Transient Measurement in a Gasoline Fuel Cell Fuel Processor

Fuel cell powered vehicles offer the potential of ultra-low or zero emissions along with very high efficiency. The major practical barrier to wide-spread introduction has been the need to provide hydrogen to the fuel cell. On-board hydrogen storage is not practical at the current time, leading to a large research and engineering effort in developing fuel processors that convert a hydrocarbon fuel such as gasoline, methanol or methane into a hydrogen-rich reformate. A key component of these systems, all of which have multiple catalytic reactors, is the processor response to transient operation that is inherent to vehicle use. This paper reports on a research reactor system designed to measure the transient response of fuel processors, and reports preliminary measurements of transient response for the primary reformer reactor of a gasoline fuel processor.