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Fuel cells will undoubtedly be a part of the next generation of power supply technology. The gap that prevents fuel cells from entering into wide spread service is the lack of a hydrogen infrastructure, but fuel reformers can bridge that gap. A fuel reformer is a device that takes a hydrocarbon fuel (natural gas, gasoline, diesel, etc.) and processes it into a hydrogen rich, proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell ready gas stream. Hydrogen Burner Technology's (HBT) process approach is to use an auto-thermal reformer (ATR), low temperature shift bed (LTS), preferential oxidation reactor (PROX), and an anode off gas oxidizer (AGO). These technologies will be explained and discussed in detail. As important as the specific process is how each are tied together and packaged into a commercially viable product. At this stage of fuel cell and fuel reformer development, HBT sees this package as a fully independent device that can seamlessly be coupled with any PEM fuel cell.

Fuel-Flexible, Fuel Processors (F3P), producing hydrogen to power fuel cells, provide several options for future near zero emission vehicles. Hydrogen Burner Technology, Inc. (HBT) has established an under-oxidized-burner (UOB™) technology, patented and proven in commercial use for industrial hydrogen generation applications. HBT is developing a subsystem in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Energy based on the UOB™ technology. This F3P subsystem can produce a hydrogen rich product gas using a variety of gaseous or liquid fuels as the feed-stock. The resulting hydrogen rich gas stream (reformate) may be directly useable by proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells powering electric driven vehicles. Several gaseous and liquid fuel results will be examined and the general considerations for feedstock reforming will be discussed. Direct attention will be paid to system efficiency, startup times, and carbon monoxide polishing development.