The authors developed a compact, 3 kW, purifier-integrated modular reformer which becomes the building block of full-scale 30 kW or 50 kW methanol fuel processors for fuel cell vehicles. Their proprietary technologies regarding hydrogen purification by composite metal membrane and catalytic combustion by washcoated wire-mesh catalyst were combined with the conventional methanol steam-reforming technology, resulting in higher conversion, excellent quality of product hydrogen, and better thermal efficiency than any other systems using preferential oxidation. In this system, steam reforming, hydrogen purification, and catalytic combustion all take place in a single reactor so that the whole system is compact and easy to operate. Hydrogen from the module is ultrahigh pure (99.9999% or better), hence there is no power degradation of PEMFC stack due to contamination by CO. Also, since only pure hydrogen is supplied to the anode of the PEMFC stack, 100% hydrogen utilization is possible in the stack. The module produces 2.3 Nm3/h of hydrogen, which is equivalent to 3 kW when PEMFC has 43% efficiency. Thermal efficiency (HHV of product H2/HHV of MeOH in) of the module is 89% and the power density of the module is 0.77 kW/1. This work was conducted in cooperation with Hyundai Motor Company in the form of a Korean national project. Currently the module is under test with an actual fuel cell stack in order to verify its performance. Sooner or later a full-scale 30 kW system will be constructed by connecting these modules in series and parallel and will serve as the fuel processor for the Korean first fuel cell hybrid vehicle.
Purifier-integrated methanol reformer for fuel cell vehicles
Fuel Cells - The Competitive Option for Sustainable Energy Supply, Grove Fuel Cell Symposium, 6 ; 223-227
Journal of Power Sources ; 86 , 1-2
2000
5 Seiten, 13 Quellen
Conference paper
English
Purifier-integrated methanol reformer for fuel cell vehicles
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