BIOFEAT: Biodiesel fuel processor for a vehicle fuel cell auxiliary power unit

An integrated auxiliary power unit (APU) based on a 10 kWe integrated biodiesel fuel processor has been designed and is being developed. Auto-thermal reforming (ATR) and thermal cracking (TC) were considered for converting the fuel into a hydrogen-rich gas suitable for PEM fuel cells. The fuel processor includes also a gas clean-up system that will reduce the carbon monoxide in the primary processor exit gas to below 10 ppm via a new heat-integrated CO clean-up unit, based on the assembly of catalytic heat exchange plates, so as to meet the operational requirements of a PEMFC stack. This article is devoted to the study and selection of the proper feed strategy for the primary fuel processor. Different pre-treatment and feed alternatives (e.g. based on nozzles or simple coils) were devised and tested for the ATR processors, which turned out to be the preferred primary processing route. A nozzle-based strategy was finally selected along with special recommendations about the constituent materials and the operating procedures to be adopted to avoid coking and nozzle corrosion as well as to allow a wide turn down ratio.