MICRO COMPONENT HYDROCARBON STEAM REFORMER SYSTEM AND CYCLE FOR PRODUCING HYDROGEN GAS

摘要

A micro component steam reformer system for producing hydrogen-enriched gas to power a fuel cell (68) adapted for scalable power requirements. The steam reformer system uses a cycle in which, in laminar flow modules, a vaporized hydrocarbon is mixed with fuel cell off-gas having a hydrogen component and combusted to heat vaporizers (14, 18 and 22) and a steam reformer (34). Vaporized hydrocarbons and water vapour are introduced as a feedstock into t he steam reformer (34) to produce a syn-gas, which is cooled in heat exchangers (38, 46 and 54) and purified a shift reactors (42 and 50) and in preferentia l oxidation reactor (60). The resulting hydrogen gas may be introduced into a hydrogen fuel cell (68). Off-gas from the fuel cell (68) is recycled to provide hydrogen and water for use in the system cycle.