Hydrogen production apparatus

Abstract

This invention provides a hydrogen production apparatus that can decompose a fuel containing organic matter at a low temperature without externally supplying electric energy or by supplying only a small amount of electric energy to produce a hydrogen-containing gas not significantly contaminated, for example, with nitrogen and CO. In the hydrogen production apparatus, an organic matter-containing fuel is decomposed to produce a hydrogen-containing gas. The hydrogen production apparatus is characterized in that a joint product comprising a separating membrane (11), a fuel electrode (12) provided on one side of the separating membrane (11), and an oxidation electrode (14) provided on the other side of the separating membrane (11) is held between a fuel electrode separator comprising a flow passage groove (13) for allowing a fuel containing organic matter and water to flow into the fuel electrode (12) and an oxidation electrode separator comprising a flow passage groove (15) for allowing an oxidizing agent to flow into the oxidation electrode (14) to constitute a hydrogen production cell (10), and the hydrogen production apparatus further comprises means (16)for supplying a fuel containing organic matter and water into the fuel electrode (12), means (17) for supplying an oxidizing agent into the oxidation electrode (14), and means (23) for generating and withdrawing hydrogen-containing gas from the fuel electrode (12) side.

Description

technical field [0001] The present invention relates to a hydrogen production device that decomposes fuel containing organic matter at low temperature to produce hydrogen-containing gas. Background technique [0002] In recent years, countermeasures against environmental problems and resource problems have become important, and one of such countermeasures is active development of fuel cells. In fuel cells, since phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC) or solid polymer fuel cells (PEFC) use hydrogen as fuel, a reforming system that converts hydrocarbons or methanol as raw materials into hydrogen is required. This development It is a particularly important technical issue in the development of fuel cells. [0003] For the fuel reforming of PEFC for automobiles, methanol, dimethyl ether (DME), ethanol, natural gas, propane and gasoline have been studied, but among them, the reforming of methanol with the lowest reforming temperature has been developed the most. Now, as As the refor...

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Problems solved by technology

[0023] In addition, in the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), in the case of an open circuit and anoxic state, in a single cell, the cell reaction and the electrolysis reaction coexist, generating CH at the oxidation electrode 3 OH+H 2 O→CO 2 +6H + +6e - The reaction produces 6H at the fuel pole + +6e - →3H 2 These contents are exemplified in Non-Patent Documents 1 and 2, but the conclusion of the paper of Non-Patent Document 1 is that "the generation of hydrogen not only reduces the power output of the battery in operation, but also continuously consumes fuel in the open state, so DMFC Whether it is in operation or standby, it is very important to supply oxygen to the cathode sufficiently and constantly.” The conclusion of the paper of Non-Patent Document 2 is “For DMFCs with a large MEA area, it is necessary to pay attention to the shutdown and startup of the system. Accumulation of hydrogen caused by ", so it can be seen that the purpose of both is not to produce hydrogen

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