Study on an integrated natural gas fuel processor for 2-kW solid oxide fuel cell

Abstract

A natural gas fuel processor integrated a compact reformer with two heat exchangers was developed and tested as a hydrogen generator for 2 kW distributed solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) applications. The compact reformer is comprised of a reforming chamber and two non-catalytic combustion chambers, in which the endothermic and exothermic reactions are coupled into a multilayered cylindrical reactor vessel. The integrated fuel processor can be started up quickly by the combustion of methane and run steadily within 30 min under the preferred thermodynamic operating conditions. The higher temperature zone is located at the latter half part of the reforming chamber, where the temperature gradient is relatively small and favorable for hydrogen production. The results show that a high methane conversion and H2 molar fraction (dry basis) can be achieved, irrespective of the hydrogen production capacity. The energy efficiency of the integrated fuel processor can reach 74.11% when producing 2 Nm3/h of H2. A SOFC system was fueled successfully by the generated hydrogen-rich reformate in the integrated fuel processor.