FUEL REFORMER AND REFORMING OF FUEL

摘要

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a compact fuel reformer good in efficiency. SOLUTION: This fuel reformer 20 is obtained by designing a shift reactional part 32 so as to provide about 40% based on the maximum capacity of a reforming part 30 as the maximum capacity. Air is fed from a blower 46 to a hydrogen-rich gas according to a feed rate in excess of the maximum capacity of the shift reactional part 32 when the hydrogen-rich gas is fed to the shift reactional part 32 at the high feed rate in excess of the maximum capacity. Thereby, an oxidizing reaction of carbon monoxide is carried out in addition to the shift reaction. The concentration of the carbon monoxide in the hydrogen- rich gas at an outlet of the shift reactional part 32 is regulated to a desired concentration or below by controlling the feed rate of the air. As a result, the fuel reformer 20 can be compacted and an energy required for heating up at the time of starting can be reduced.