A reforming and
hydrogen purification
system operating with minimal pressure drop for producing free
hydrogen from different
hydrogen rich fuels includes a hydrogen reforming catalyst
bed in a vessel in communication with a core unit containing a hydrogen permeable selective membrane. The vessel is located within an insulated
enclosure which forms an air inlet passageway and an exhaust passageway on opposite sides of the vessel. Air and
raffinate pass through a burner within the air inlet passageway, providing a heated
flue gas to heat the catalyst to the
reaction temperature needed to generate free hydrogen from the feedstock. The burner
flue gas flows laterally over and along the length of the
bed between the input and output ends of the
bed.
Hydrogen is recovered from the core for use by a hydrogen-consuming device such as a fuel
cell. The remaining unrecovered hydrogen in the reformed gases is contained in
raffinate and is used to supply process heat via the burner. The exhaust
flue gas and the inlet air supply pass through a
recuperator in which the inlet air is heated from the hot
exhaust gas. The feedstock input line is also coupled to the
raffinate line and the hydrogen
recovery line to preheat the feedstock prior to entry into the catalyst bed.