Shell Oil Comapny

John William Johnston

Scott Lee Wellington

Mahendra L Joshi

Jingyu Cui

Erik Edwin Engwall

Processes and systems for operating molten carbonate fuel cell systems are described herein. A process for operating a molten carbonate fuel cell system includes providing a hydrogen-containing stream comprising molecular hydrogen to an anode portion of a molten carbonate fuel cell; controlling a flow rate of the hydrogen-containing stream to the anode such that molecular hydrogen utilization in the anode is less than 50%; mixing anode exhaust comprising molecular hydrogen from the molten carbonate fuel cell with a hydrocarbon stream comprising hydrocarbons, contacting at least a portion of the mixture of anode exhaust and the hydrocarbon stream with a catalyst to produce a steam reforming feed; separating at least a portion of molecular hydrogen from the steam reforming feed; and providing at least a portion of the separated molecular hydrogen to the molten carbonate fuel cell anode.

Systems and processes for operating fuel cell systems

The present invention is directed to systems and processes of operating molten carbonate fuel cell systems. A process for operating the molten carbonate fuel cell includes providing a hydrogen-containing stream comprising molecular hydrogen from a high temperature hydrogen-separation device to a molten carbonate fuel cell, wherein the high temperature hydrogen-separation device comprises one or more high temperature hydrogen-separating membranes; mixing at least a portion of hydrocarbons to be provided to, or provided to, a first reformer with anode exhaust from the molten carbonate fuel cell; at least partially reforming some of the hydrocarbons in the first reformer to produce a steam reforming feed; and providing the steam reforming feed to a second reformer, wherein the second reformer comprises the high temperature hydrogen-separation device or the second reformer is operatively coupled to the high temperature hydrogen-separation device, and the high temperature hydrogen-separation device is configured to produce at least a portion of the stream comprising molecular hydrogen provided to the molten carbonate fuel cell.

The present invention is directed to systems and processes for operating molten carbonate fuel cell systems. A process for operating the molten carbonate fuel cell includes providing a hydrogen-containing stream comprising molecular hydrogen to a molten carbonate fuel cell anode; heating a hydrocarbon stream, at least a majority of which is comprised of hydrocarbons that are liquid at 20&#xb0; C. and atmospheric pressure, with a heat source comprising an anode exhaust from the molten carbonate fuel cell anode; contacting at least a portion of the heated hydrocarbon stream with a catalyst to produce a steam reforming feed comprising gaseous hydrocarbons, hydrogen, and at least one carbon oxide; separating at least a portion of the molecular hydrogen from the steam reforming feed; and providing at least a portion of the separated molecular hydrogen to the molten carbonate fuel cell anode as at least a portion of the stream comprising molecular hydrogen.

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Kingwood, TX, United States of America

John William Johnston