Catalytic decomposition of natural gas to hydrogen for fuel cell applications

Abstract

This paper presents a concept for a fuel processor based on the catalytic decomposition of natural gas to hydrogen for fuel cell applications. In this concept, natural gas is decomposed over a catalyst; carbon is deposited on the catalyst and hydrogen is produced. Once the catalytic bed is filled with carbon, it is regenerated by burning the carbon in air. A fuel processor based on this concept instead of steam reforming of natural gas (the process currently in use) would produce a hydrogen gas stream with purity greater than 95% (compared to 75% with conventional steam reforming) that would not contain any CO or CO 2. Such a system would be potentially simpler, smaller and less expensive compared to the current fuel processor technology based on steam reforming. The proposed fuel processor concept is particularly attractive for fuel cells requiring pure hydrogen feed streams, such as SPFCs.