An individual solid oxide cell (SOC) constructed of a sandwich configuration including in the following order: an oxygen electrode, a solid oxide electrolyte, a fuel electrode, a fuel manifold, and at least one layer of mesh. In one embodiment, the mesh supports a reforming catalyst resulting in a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) having a reformer embedded therein. The reformer-modified SOFC functions internally to steam reform or partially oxidize a gaseous hydrocarbon, e.g. methane, to a gaseous reformate of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which is converted in the SOC to water, carbon dioxide, or a mixture thereof, and an electrical current. In another embodiment, an electrical insulator is disposed between the fuel manifold and the mesh resulting in a solid oxide electrolysis cell (SOEC), which functions to electrolyze water and/or carbon dioxide.

The present invention relates to a protective reformer device (10) for the protection of an anode section (112) of a fuel cell stack (110) against oxidizing damage during a heating-up process, having a gas duct (20) with a gas inlet (22) and a gas outlet (24) for conducting fuel gas from an anode feed section (120) of the fuel cell stack (110), wherein a catalytic converter section (30) is arranged in the gas duct (20) for a catalytic oxidation of at least part of the fuel gas into a protective gas for feeding to the anode section (112), wherein, furthermore, the gas duct (20) has a temperature control device (40) in thermally transmitting contact with the catalytic converter section (30) for an active temperature control of the catalytic converter section (30).

A fuel cell system includes: a reformer which generates a reformed gas containing hydrogen by reacting hydrocarbon and moisture with each other; a fuel cell stack which generates electric energy through electrochemical reaction of the reformed gas and an oxidant; an ejector which, using steam as a drive fluid, sucks either a raw fuel containing the hydrocarbon or a recycled gas recovered from an anode exhaust gas, and supplies a resultant gas to the reformer; and a vaporizer which generates the steam by vaporizing water, wherein an operation temperature of the fuel cell stack is higher than a boiling point of water at an operation pressure, and the vaporizer generates the steam through heat exchange with the anode exhaust gas.

A fuel cell system includes: a reformer which generates a reformed gas containing hydrogen by reacting hydrocarbon and moisture with each other; a fuel cell stack which generates electric energy through electrochemical reaction of the reformed gas and an oxidant; an ejector which, using steam as a drive fluid, sucks either a raw fuel containing the hydrocarbon or a recycled gas recovered from an anode exhaust gas, and supplies a resultant gas to the reformer; and a vaporizer which generates the steam by vaporizing water, wherein an operation temperature of the fuel cell stack is higher than a boiling point of water at an operation pressure, and the vaporizer generates the steam through heat exchange with the anode exhaust gas.

Green hydrogen and solid carbon can be produced by reacting captured methane with a catalyst in a reaction chamber. A liquid base fluid can form a continuous phase within the reaction chamber with a plurality of liquid metal carrier droplets dispersed in the base fluid. The catalyst can be nano-sized particles that can coat the surfaces of the carrier droplets. Agitation can be supplied to the reaction chamber to maintain dispersion of the liquid metal carrier droplets and increase contact of the methane and catalyst particles. The reaction temperature can be less than the temperature required for water electrolysis or steam methane reforming processes. The green hydrogen and solid carbon can be used as a power source for wellsite equipment in the form of fuel cells to generate electricity or power or used to charge batteries.

Green hydrogen and solid carbon can be produced by reacting captured methane with a catalyst in a reaction chamber. A liquid base fluid can form a continuous phase within the reaction chamber with a plurality of liquid metal carrier droplets dispersed in the base fluid. The catalyst can be nano-sized particles that can coat the surfaces of the carrier droplets. Agitation can be supplied to the reaction chamber to maintain dispersion of the liquid metal carrier droplets and increase contact of the methane and catalyst particles. The reaction temperature can be less than the temperature required for water electrolysis or steam methane reforming processes. The green hydrogen and solid carbon can be used as a power source for wellsite equipment in the form of fuel cells to generate electricity or power or used to charge batteries.

A hybrid dehydrogenation reaction system includes: an acid aqueous solution tank having an acid aqueous solution; an exothermic dehydrogenation reactor including a chemical hydride of a solid state and receiving the acid aqueous solution from the acid aqueous solution tank for an exothermic dehydrogenation reaction of the chemical hydride and the acid aqueous solution to generate hydrogen; an LOHC tank including a liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC); and an endothermic dehydrogenation reactor receiving the liquid organic hydrogen carrier from the LOHC tank and generating hydrogen through an endothermic dehydrogenation reaction of the liquid organic hydrogen carrier by using heat generated from the exothermic dehydrogenation reactor.

A hybrid dehydrogenation reaction system includes: an acid aqueous solution tank having an acid aqueous solution; an exothermic dehydrogenation reactor including a chemical hydride of a solid state and receiving the acid aqueous solution from the acid aqueous solution tank for an exothermic dehydrogenation reaction of the chemical hydride and the acid aqueous solution to generate hydrogen; an LOHC tank including a liquid organic hydrogen carrier (LOHC); and an endothermic dehydrogenation reactor receiving the liquid organic hydrogen carrier from the LOHC tank and generating hydrogen through an endothermic dehydrogenation reaction of the liquid organic hydrogen carrier by using heat generated from the exothermic dehydrogenation reactor.

A microbial fuel cell (MFC) in which the anode and/or cathode half-cell comprises at least one additional electrode insulated from direct contact with the working electrode and arranged to be coupled to an external voltage or current source, wherein the additional electrode does not comprise an internal redox system, methods of operation of MFCs and methods for measuring, controlling or modulating MFC circuits are described.

A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell having an anode and a cathode configured to output cathode exhaust. The fuel cell is configured to generate waste heat. The fuel cell system further includes a reformer configured to partially reform a feed gas using the waste heat and output a hydrogen-containing stream. The fuel cell system further includes a reformer-electrolyzer-purifier (“REP”) having an REP anode configured to receive a first portion of the hydrogen-containing stream and an REP cathode.