A reformate clean-up reactor. The reactor takes a reformate stream and
passes it through multiple subreactors that are integrated into a common
reactor housing to reduce reformate stream by-product concentration prior
to use of the reformate in a fuel cell. The reactor includes a gas shift
subreactor to promote the conversion of carbon monoxide to carbon
dioxide, a gaseous diffusion membrane subreactor to provide a
hydrogen-rich portion of the reformate stream, and a methanation
subreactor to convert carbon monoxide into methane and water. In
applications where space for a fuel cell system is limited, the
integration of the clean--up devices into a common housing provides
significant improvements in structural and volumetric efficiency.
Moreover, in at least one embodiment of the present invention, the
juxtaposition of the gaseous diffusion membrane and the gas shift reactor
improves membrane robustness. The purpose of the abstract is to enable
the United States Patent and Trademark Office and the public generally to
determine from a cursory inspection the nature and gist of the technical
disclosure, and is not to be used for interpreting the scope of the
claims.