(139b) Fuel Processing for Hydrogen Production in Fuel Cell Applications

High to ultra-high purity hydrogen may be needed for the durable and efficient

operation of fuel cells. Impurities are believed to cause various problems in the

current state-of-the-art fuel cell designs, including catalyst poisoning and membrane

failure. As such, additional process steps may be required to purify the hydrogen to

meet industry quality standards. Additional steps could also be needed if carbon

capture and sequestration technologies are developed and utilized as part of this

method of hydrogen production.

During the production of hydrogen, CO2 is also produced. The SMR process in centralized plants emits

more than twice the CO2 than hydrogen produced  To avoid emission of CO2 into the atmosphere, CO2

can be concentrated, captured, and sequestered; sequestration concepts and technologies are relatively

new and there is no long-term test evidence to prove that these technologies will be successful.

Sequestration in oceans is controversial because of the possible adverse impact on the aquatic environment by the reduction of ocean water pH.

Steam reforming of natural gas is widely used in industry today. Hydrogen is

produced by the SMR process in large centralized industrial plants for use in

numerous applications, including chemical manufacturing and petroleum refining.

Research and development (R&D) programs are currently investigating the

development of small-scale SMR technologies to enable the development of smallscale, distributed hydrogen production and delivery infrastructure.