The present invention includes an integrated fuel processor subsystem
incorporating a thermal combustor, a catalytic combustor, a
quasi-autothermal reactor (QATR) and a air-fuel-steam (AFS) mixer to
provide a range of operating modes exhibiting performance between that of
a pure steam reformer and a pure autothermal reformer to increase the
flexibility of the fuel processor to handle transient system demands such
as cold starts, suppress emissions and carbon formation and improve
efficiency.