Patent ID: 7204964
Filing Date: 2007-04-17
Classification: B01J,C01B,C10K,H01M,Y02E

Abstract:
1. A carbon monoxide (CO) oxidizer connected to a reformer performing reformate reactions to produce a reformate gas containing hydrogen and carbon monoxide, the CO oxidizer having a catalyst for promoting oxidation of carbon monoxide to reduce a concentration of carbon monoxide in the reformate gas produced by the reformer, the CO oxidizer comprising: a main passage allowing flow of reformate gas supplied from the reformer to an agitator; a plurality of inlets disposed upstream of the catalyst and supplying oxidizing agent to the reformate gas; and the agitator for agitating the reformate gas from the main passage, the agitator comprising at least three members for impeding a main stream of reformate gas flowing through the main passage, adjacent members of said at least three members being disposed so that their cross sections projected in the direction of the main stream partially overlap and so that their cross sections projected in the direction perpendicular to the main stream flowing in the main passage partially overlap, wherein a plurality of curved passages having at least two curves are formed downstream of the inlet and between said at least three members, and wherein said at least three members are disposed substantially in a row which is substantially perpendicular to a direction of the main stream; wherein the agitator divides the main stream flowing through the main passage into a plurality of sub-streams flowing through the curved passages, wherein the number of inlets is equal to the number of curved passages, and one inlet is disposed in each curved passage in the agitator so as to supply oxidizing agent for each curved passage and, and wherein one or more of said at least three members comprises: