DEVELOPMENT OF COMPACT FC- AND FUEL PROCESSOR BASED AUXILIARY POWER UNITS USING MICROCHANNEL REACTOR TECHNOLOGY

摘要

It is now clear that future sustainable and distributed energy generation will rely in many cases on fuel cell technology. One of the main issues is that of hydrogen supply in which case fuel processing of fossil and renewable fuels is a viable option. In particular for (a) small scale stationary applications, (b) mobile and (c) portable power generation systems a compact hydrogen supply is required when fuel cell technology is applied. Fuel processing is a feasible option to meet the limited space demands of auxiliary power units (APUs) due to the high energy density of liquid fuels. Microstructured reactors provide advantages and solutions, for example, on scale-up with respect to system integration, careful heat management control and an increase in the service life of the catalyst.