To develop a kW class of carbon monoxide preferential oxidation reactor for PEM fuel cell application, a plate-type heat exchange reactor was designed, fabricated and investigated. A key issue of the reactor design is to find effective catalytic structure and heat removal configuration. A rectangular channels for reaction and heat exchange are stacked alternately. A corrugated metallic inserts were used for catalytic support. A catalytic layer of Ru/Al2O3 was prepared by wet impregnation of Ru followed by alumina washcoat on the metallic inserts. In the heat exchange channels a same structure of metallic inserts without catalytic coating were located to enhance heat transfer between adjacent channels. The performance test was conducted with surrogate reformed gas of low temperature shift reactor at the space velocities ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 hr-1. The influences of the operation variables were investigated by varying the inlet temperature, oxygen to carbon monoxide ratio and flow rate of cooling media were investigated. The developed heat exchange reactor can reduce 0.7% of inlet CO concentration down to 5 ppm at the capacities of power equivalent to 0.5 kWe. Increasing the reactor capacities up to 1 kWe, the lowest outlet CO concentration was increased to 80 ppm. To improve reactor capacity and durability are ongoing work.

Preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide in a Ru/Al<sub>2</sub>O<sub>3</sub> coated heat exchange reactor for kW class PEM fuel cell application

248th National Meeting (2014)

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Preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide in a Ru/Al2O3 coated heat exchange reactor for kW class PEM fuel cell application

Preferential oxidation of carbon monoxide in a Ru/Al₂O₃ coated heat exchange reactor for kW class PEM fuel cell application