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Key to broad commercialization of fuel cells is development of fuels that are not only fuel cell reformer compatible, but are also power technology neutral and able to use the existing fuel distribution system with minimal investment. These fuels must permit the transition from present power technologies to ultra-clean power technologies approaching commercialization, including both fuel cell and advanced internal combustion engines. Tests of cobalt-based Fischer-Tropsch (FT) light synthetic paraffin in an integrated fuel cell power system demonstrate the feasibility of a natural gas-to-liquid (GTL) fuel for fuel cell applications. This paper discusses both experimental data that verifies the suitability of such fuels for fuel cell applications, and the broader ability of these fuels to support a commercial transition to clean power technologies.

The feasibility of fuel cell vehicles has now been verified by virtue of recent and ongoing field experience with both hydrogen and reformer based systems. The key issues regarding the timing and extent of fuel cell commercialization are becoming the ability to reduce costs to acceptable levels and the choice of fuel for the power system. The choice of fuel processing technology can dramatically influence the total power system. The design and development of a multi-fuel reformer/fuel cell system for transportation applications has been demonstrated using both software simulations and hardware demonstrations. Feasibility has been demonstrated through six years of prototype hardware and experimental testing culminating with the reformer and CO clean-up device being integrated with a PEM fuel cell. Recent efforts have focused on improving the performance of the various subsystems and increasing the power density and specific power of the integrated fuel processing subsystem.

This paper presents experimental results of studies investigating the effect of nitric oxide (NO) on the autoignition chemistry of a primary reference fuel blend with an octane rating of 87 in a motored engine. The experiments were conducted over a range of operating conditions in a single cylinder research engine at compression ratios of 5.2 and 8.2. The inlet manifold was heated and supercharged to pre-stress the fuel-air mixture in order to produce in-cylinder pressure and temperature histories similar to practical engines. The exhaust gas carbon monoxide concentration was monitored and used as a measure of overall reactivity. In-cylinder pressure histories were also recorded and processed to calculate in-cylinder temperature histories. Results showed that at low manifold temperatures, below that necessary to produce negative temperature coefficient behavior, up to 100 ppm of NO promoted reactivity, whereas higher concentrations retarded the reactivity.