Hydrogen Production for Fuel Cells Via Reforming Coal-Derived Methanol

Hydrogen can be produced from many feed stocks including coal. The objectives of this project are to establish and prove a hydrogen production pathway from coal-derived methanol for fuel cell applications. This progress report is the third report submitted to the DOE reporting on the status and progress made during the course of the project. This report covers the time period of April 1-June 30, 2004. This quarter saw progress in five areas. These areas are: (1) External evaluation of coal based methanol and the fuel cell grade baseline fuel, (2) Design, set up and initial testing of the autothermal reactor, (3) Experiments to determine the axial and radial thermal profiles of the steam reformers, (4) Catalyst degradation studies, and (5) Experimental investigations of heat and mass transfer enhancement methods by flow field manipulation. All of the projects are proceeding on or slightly ahead of schedule