Methanol decomposition fuel processor for portable power applications

A new fuel processor approach for portable fuel cell power sources significantly improves upon microreformers by overcoming the difficulties with heat deficiencies and contaminants in the product hydrogen. Instead of reforming, the processor uses methanol decomposition to enable the byproduct, carbon monoxide (CO), to be used as the heat source. A hydrogen permselective membrane segregates the CO for combustion in an integrated burner, maximizes the decomposition conversion, and provides pure hydrogen for a fuel cell. Discharging the CO-rich retentate through an ejector to draw combustion air into the burner greatly simplifies the system. High and stable hydrogen yields are attained with optimized catalysts and fuel compositions. The resultant simple, efficient, and self-heating processor produces 85% of the hydrogen content of the fuel. A 20 W autonomous power source based on this novel fuel processor demonstrates a fuel energy density >1.5 Wh g−1(electrical), nearly twice as high as microreformer power sources.