Development of a Rapid-Start On-Board Automotive Steam Reformer

The paper reports on the status of efforts to engineer a microchannel steam reforming system to enable a rapid cold start capability. The steam reformer is intended to be coupled with a WGS and PROX reactor to provide reformate to a PEM fuel cell for an automotive propulsion application. A compact and efficient microchannel steam reformer was previously developed that required ~15 minutes to accomplish a cold start. The objective of the current work was to reduce this start time to <30 seconds without sacrificing steady-state efficiency. The paper describes the changes made in the reforming system to enable cold start capability and presents data on reformate flow and temperature transients during cold start testing. The results demonstrate that the system is capable of producing reformate within 22 seconds after a cold start. A strategy for integrating the system with a WGS and PROX reactor to provide a rapid start fuel processing system is described.