A complete fuel processor for propylene glycol as hydrogen supply for a 5 kw low temperature pem fuel cell - Interim report on single reactors and system performance

The current paper reports from development of an auxiliary power unit primarily dedicated for aviation purposes as additional energy source for different possible supply scenarios for passenger aircrafts not discussed in detail here. Three microstructured plate heat-exchanger reactors were switched in series, coated with appropriate self-developed catalysts utilising propylene glycol as fuel. They were designed to feed a fuel cell with a net power output of 5 kW. These reactors are an oxidative steam reformer coupled with a catalytic burner for propylene glycol, an air-cooled water-gas shift reactor and a preferential oxidation reactor with integrated evaporation cooling. Along with a monolithic start-up burner, a heat-exchanger and a hot gas driven evaporator they were forming the components of a highly integrated fuel processor system. To the knowledge of the authors, the described system is the first fuel processor developed for polyalcohol fuel of that size. It had been presented first in the scope of a keynote lecture, however, without any details about reactor performance.