Development of 50 kW Fuel Processor for Stationary Fuel Cell Applications

The objective of the project was to develop and test a fuel processor capable of producing high hydrogen concentration (>98%) with less than ppm quantities of carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide at lower capital cost and higher efficiency, compared to conventional natural gas reformers. It was intended that we achieve our objective by developing simple reactor/process design, and high durability CO2 absorbents, to replace pressure swing adsorption (PSA) or membrane separators. Cost analysis indicated that we would not meet DOE cost goals so the project was terminated before construction of the full scale fuel processor. The work on adsorbent development was focused on the development of calcium oxide-based reversible CO2 absorbents with various microstructures and morphologies to determine the optimum microstructure for long-term reversible CO2 absorption. The effect of powder production process variables was systematically studied including: the final target compositions, the reagents from which the final products were derived, the pore forming additives, the processing time and temperature. The sorbent materials were characterized in terms of their performance in the reversible reaction with CO2 and correlation made to their microstructure