Provided is a fuel cell system capable of further increasing electric power generation efficiency, compared to the current circumstances, with respect to a fuel cell SOFC that generates electric power by supplying a reformed gas obtained by steam reforming to a fuel electrode. A steam reformer that reforms a hydrocarbon fuel by a steam reforming reaction; a fuel cell that operates by introducing a reformed gas to a fuel electrode; and an anode off-gas circulation path that removes condensed water while cooling an anode off-gas, and introduces the anode off-gas to the steam reformer are provided. A condensation temperature in a condensing device is controlled by a control unit that controls a steam partial pressure of the anode circulated to the steam reformer, and S/C adjustment is adapted to high-efficiency electric power generation.

A box style steam methane reformer (15) has plural sections (37), with each section having walls (27-29-31, 33) forming an interior cavity (35) and open ends (43) that communicate with the interior cavity. Each section has a feedstock supply pipe (71) and a fuel supply pipe (63) located along the top wall, as well as a syngas collection pipe (79) and a flue gas collection duct (75) located outside of the bottom wall. The pipes and ducts have ends that are aligned with each other to allow the sections to be assembled together. Burners (67) are in the interior cavity and are connected to the fuel supply pipe. Reactor tubes (59) extend through the interior cavity. Refractory members (81) are located in the interior cavity and across a slot. The spacing between the refractory members varies to control the flow of flue gas.

A steam reformer, comprising a combustion chamber, catalyst tubes arranged in several rows, feed conduits for the educt gas, which extend below the bottom of the combustion chamber, burners for heating the catalyst tubes which are installed in the bottom of the combustion chamber and are directed vertically upwards into the combustion chamber, feed conduits extending below the bottom of the combustion chamber, each for supplying the air and the fuel gas to the burners, openings installed in the ceiling of the combustion chamber for discharging the burner waste gas, and channels extending above the ceiling of the combustion chamber for discharging the burner waste gas.

A steam reformer, with a combustion chamber, catalyst tubes arranged in several rows, with burners for heating the catalyst tubes, with feed conduits each for supplying the catalyst tubes with educt gas and the burners with air and fuel gas, with collecting conduits for discharging the product gas, with channels for discharging the burner waste gases from the combustion chamber, wherein the ceilings of the channels each are formed by the bottom or the ceiling of the combustion chamber, and wherein the channels for discharging the burner waste gases are designed such that the flow velocity of the burner waste gases is constant along the entire length of the channels, as seen vertically to the catalyst tubes.

The present invention relates to reactor tubes packed with a catalyst system employed to deliberately bias process gas flow toward the hot tube segment and away from the cold segment in order to reduce the circumferential tube temperature variation.

A furnace for performing an endothermic process, comprising tubes containing a catalyst for converting a gaseous feed, wherein tubes are positioned in rows inside the furnace, wherein burners are mounted between the tubes and between the tubes and the furnace walls parallel to the tubes rows, and wherein the burners rows and the tubes rows are ended by end walls and are divided into sections with, on each row of tubes, the distance from a wall end tube to the end wall being T2W, the distance between two adjacent inner tubes in a section being T2T, and the distance between two symmetry end tubes of two adjacent sections being T2S, wherein the tubes in the rows are arranged in such a way that the ratios T2T/T2W and T2T/T2S are greater than 0.5 and smaller than 2 thus limiting the differences in the heat transfer to the outer tubes (wall end tubes and symmetry end tubes) with respect to the inner tubes and reducing the temperature difference between outer tubes and inner tubes.

The present invention relates to a method of improving the efficiency of an integrated hydrogen generation system by the introduction of a means to heat the PSA tail gas within the PSA surge tank.

A gas-fired burner adapted for use on a liquid fuel. A method for essentially smokeless start-up and steady state operation of a gas-fired burner on a liquid fuel. The apparatus integrates a catalytic liquid fuel reformer with a flame burner designed for operation on a gaseous fuel of high Wobbe Index, e.g., natural gas. The method involves reacting a mixture of a liquid fuel and oxidant in a catalytic reformer to obtain a gaseous reformate having a low Wobbe Index; and thereafter combusting the gaseous reformate, optionally augmented with liquid co-fuel and oxidant, in the gas-fired burner under diffusion flame conditions. The invention allows commercial gas-fired appliances to be operated on a liquid fuel, thereby offering advantages in logistics and camp operations.

A furnace for performing an endothermic process, comprising tubes containing catalyst for converting gaseous feed, wherein tubes are positioned inside the furnace in rows parallel to refractory walls along X axis, wherein burners are mounted either to the furnace floor or to the furnace ceiling, inner burners being mounted in rows between the rows of tubes and outer burners being mounted in rows between tubes rows and the wall along X axis, and close to said wall along X axis, wherein the outer burners are positioned such that the distance b2w between the outer burner and the wall along X axis is smaller than or equal to equivalent burner nozzle diameter b of said outer burner (b2w /b1).

A burner for producing synthesis gas by partial oxidation of liquid or gaseous, carbon-containing fuels in the presence of an oxygen-containing oxidant and a moderator, which burner can be operated uncooled, i.e. without a fluid coolant being passed through the burner, is proposed. Steam or carbon dioxide or else mixtures of these materials are used as moderator. This is achieved by the feed channels being configured so that mixing of the fuel, the moderator and the oxidant occurs only outside the burner.