Low cost compact onsite hydrogen generation

High cost and lack of convenient supply infrastructure for hydrogen is believed to the major hurdle to the commercialization of hydrogen energy. Low cost compact onsite hydrogen generator is developed to produce three purity levels of hydrogen for use with high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (HTPEM) or low temperature polymer electrolyte membrane (LTPEM) fuel cell. The small modular reformer has process efficient higher or equal to large scale central production plant without the penalty of expensive distribution cost. The cost of hydrogen from primary reformate hydrogen to high purity hydrogen ranges from $3.16/kg to $5.84/kg and the corresponding power cost from FC system is $0.352 to $0.408/KWh. The hydrogen costs are much lower than one can obtain from an industrial gas company with central supply system and expensive cost in distribution. These direct power costs without depreciation cost are comparable or lower than the comparable size of diesel power cost.