A gasoline fuel processor designed to study quick-start performance

A fast-start capability is a key requirement for on-board fuel processors for automotive fuel cell systems operating on gasoline fuel. This paper reports on the design and fabrication of a suitable fuel processor having this capability and discusses estimates of the start-up fuel consumption for the laboratory unit. Also discussed are the start-up strategy and the results of a start-up simulation, which showed that the fuel processor can deliver 90% of the rated hydrogen capacity in 60 s, producing a product gas that contains >30% hydrogen and <50 ppm carbon monoxide. The start-up fuel consumption was estimated on the basis of the thermal mass of the fabricated components; the 10-kWe laboratory unit was estimated to require >2.9 MJ of fuel energy.