Nissan Motor Company Limited

Hiroaki Hashigaya

Katsunori Oshiage

Ikuhiro Taniguchi

Carbon monoxide contained in reformate gas is removed by a preferential oxidation reaction in a catalyst, two preferential oxidation reactors (A,B) being disposed in series. Valves () supply air containing oxygen as an oxidizing agent individually to these preferential oxidation reactors (A,B). Temperature sensors () detect the catalyst temperatures of the preferential oxidation reactors (A,B), and a controller (), by adjusting the flow rate of the valves () based on the detected temperatures, maximizes the carbon monoxide removal performance of the preferential oxidation reactors (A,B), while preventing excessive catalyst temperature rise.

Carbon monoxide removal from reformate gas

A reaction state at an upstream portion of the catalyst unit in which a partial oxidation reaction occurs is detected by a first reaction state detector, and a reforming reaction state in the whole of the catalyst unit composed of a catalyst for promoting a steam reforming reaction and a catalyst for promoting a partial oxidation reaction is detected by a second reaction state detector. Based on a reaction state detected by the second reaction state detector, a first corrector corrects feed amounts of raw fuel gas and oxidation gas, which are supplied to the catalyst unit, and a second corrector corrects a feed amount of the oxidation gas supplied to the catalyst unit and/or a feed timing thereof, based on the reaction state detected by the first reaction state detector.

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Yokohama, Japan

Hiroaki Hashigaya