Solid oxide fuel cell system and method of operating the same using peak shaving gas

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12476263-B2
Application number	US-202318533696-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 8, 2023
Priority date	Mar 27, 2018
Publication date	Nov 18, 2025
Grant date	Nov 18, 2025

Abstract

A fuel cell system and method for using a peak shaving gas, the system including: a fuel inlet configured to receive fuel from a fuel source; a catalytic partial oxidation (CPOx) reactor configured to at least partially oxidize the fuel during startup of the system; a blower configured to provide air to the CPOx reactor; a gas analyzer configured to determine a composition of fuel provided to the CPOx reactor from the fuel inlet; an oxidation catalyst configured to reduce an O 2 content of fuel received from the CPOx reactor; a reforming catalyst configured to partially reform fuel received from the oxidation catalyst; and a stack of fuel cells configured to generate electricity using fuel received from the reforming catalyst.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of operating a fuel cell system using a peak shaving fuel, the method comprising:
providing a fuel stream comprising the peak shaving fuel to an oxidation catalyst to catalyze a reaction between any O 2 included in the fuel stream and at least one of H 2 and CO included in the fuel stream; providing the fuel stream to a hydrogenation catalyst to catalyze a saturation reaction between any unsaturated hydrocarbons included in the fuel stream and the H 2 included in the fuel stream; detecting a temperature of fuel stream provided from the oxidation catalyst to the hydrogenation catalyst; and increasing a flow rate of the fuel stream if the detected temperature corresponds to an increase in oxidation by the oxidation catalyst; providing the fuel stream from the hydrogenation catalyst to the reforming catalyst to generate a reformed fuel; and providing the reformed fuel to a fuel cell stack.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein:
the hydrogenation catalyst operates at a temperature ranging from 250° C. to 400° C.; the oxidation catalyst operates at a temperature ranging from 125° C. to 175° C.; and the fuel cells comprise solid oxide fuel cells.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the oxidation catalyst comprises at least one of zinc, cobalt or copper located on ceramic base comprising at least one of alumina, stabilized zirconia, lanthana or ceria.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrogenation catalyst comprises a ceramic base and palladium in an amount ranging from 0.1 wt % to 5 wt %.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the hydrogenation catalyst catalyzes the saturation reaction between the H 2 and at least one of ethylene or propylene.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the oxidation catalyst comprises a nickel and rhodium catalyst layer on a ceramic base.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting a voltage of the fuel cell stack and adjusting the flow rate of the fuel stream based on the detected voltage.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising detecting a temperature of an anode tail gas oxidizer (ATO) and adjusting the flow rate of the fuel stream based on the detected temperature.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the reforming catalyst reforms a fuel stream comprising up to 20 vol % of C2 and C3 hydrocarbons without significant coke formation.

10 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising injecting air into the fuel stream using a blower when a content of ethane and propane exceeds 9 vol %.

11 . A method of operating a fuel cell system using a peak shaving fuel, the method comprising:
providing a fuel stream comprising the peak shaving fuel to an oxidation catalyst to catalyze a reaction between any O 2 included in the fuel stream and at least one of H 2 and CO included in the fuel stream; providing the fuel stream to a hydrogenation catalyst to catalyze a saturation reaction between any unsaturated hydrocarbons included in the fuel stream and the H 2 included in the fuel stream; providing the fuel stream from the hydrogenation catalyst to the reforming catalyst to generate a reformed fuel; and providing the reformed fuel to a fuel cell stack; wherein:
the hydrogenation catalyst operates at a temperature ranging from 250° C. to 400°;
the oxidation catalyst operates at a temperature ranging from 125° C. to 175° C.; and
the fuel cells comprise solid oxide fuel cells.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the oxidation catalyst comprises at least one of zinc, cobalt or copper located on ceramic base comprising at least one of alumina, stabilized zirconia, lanthana or ceria.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the hydrogenation catalyst comprises a ceramic base and palladium in an amount ranging from 0.1 wt % to 5 wt %.

14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the hydrogenation catalyst catalyzes the saturation reaction between the H 2 and at least one of ethylene or propylene.

15 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the oxidation catalyst comprises a nickel and rhodium catalyst layer on a ceramic base.

16 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising detecting a voltage of the fuel cell stack and adjusting the flow rate of the fuel stream based on the detected voltage.

17 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising detecting a temperature of an anode tail gas oxidizer (ATO) and adjusting the flow rate of the fuel stream based on the detected temperature.

18 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the reforming catalyst reforms a fuel stream comprising up to 20 vol % of C2 and C3 hydrocarbons without significant coke formation.

19 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising injecting air into the fuel stream using a blower when a content of ethane and propane exceeds 9 vol %.

20 . The method of claim 11 , further comprising determining a composition of the fuel stream using a gas analyzer disposed upstream of a CPOx reactor.

Assignees

• Bloom Energy Corp

Inventors

• Fisher John
• Krishnadass Jayakumar
• Weingaertner David
• Girwalkar Laxmikant
• Malviya Shraddesh

Classifications

• H01M8/0662

  Treatment of gaseous reactants or gaseous residues, e.g. cleaning · CPC title

• H01M8/1253

  the electrolyte containing zirconium oxide · CPC title

• H01M8/2404

  Processes or apparatus for grouping fuel cells · CPC title

• Y02P70/50

  Manufacturing or production processes characterised by the final manufactured product · CPC title

• Y02E60/50

  Fuel cells · CPC title