CHARM COST-EFFECTIVE HIGH-EFFICIENCY ADVANCED REFORMING MODULE FINAL TECHNICAL REPORT

Background Creation of a hydrogen infrastructure is an important prerequisite of widespread fuel cell commercialization, especially for the automotive market. Hydrogen is an attractive fuel since it offers an opportunity to replace petroleum-based fuels, but hydrogen occurs naturally only in chemical compounds like water or hydrocarbons that must be chemically converted to produce it. While an ultimate goal is to produce hydrogen through renewable energy sources, steam methane reforming (SMR) of natural gas is currently the most economical solution to initiate the transition to a hydrogen economy. Centralized hydrogen generation using large industrial SMR plants is already in place to serve customers. Yet, because of the weight and size of cylinders needed to contain hydrogen gas or liquid, transportation of hydrogen may only be economical for short distances. Consequently, distributed natural gas reforming, which trades off the economies of scale of large plants for simplified delivery logistics, is an attractive alternative that could address immediate problems with the lack of hydrogen infrastructure