Patent ID: 8636828

Claim:
A hydrogen-producing fuel processing system, comprising: a hydrogen-producing reforming region containing a reforming catalyst that, when heated to a hydrogen-producing temperature, catalyzes the formation of a reformate stream containing hydrogen gas as a majority component from a reforming feedstock; a purification region configured to receive the reformate stream and to separate the reformate stream into a product hydrogen stream and a byproduct stream, wherein the product hydrogen stream contains a greater concentration of hydrogen gas than the reformate stream, wherein the byproduct stream contains hydrogen gas having a lower concentration than the reformate stream, and wherein the purification region comprises: at least one tubular hydrogen-selective membrane containing a palladium alloy; wherein the product hydrogen stream includes hydrogen gas from the reformate stream that permeates through the tubular hydrogen-selective membrane; wherein the byproduct stream contains a portion of the reformate stream that does not pass through the tubular hydrogen-selective membrane; a purifier containing at least one carbon monoxide removal catalyst; wherein the purifier is configured to receive the byproduct stream and, when the byproduct stream contains carbon monoxide, to reduce the concentration of carbon monoxide therein via chemical reaction; and a combustion region configured to receive and combust the byproduct stream with air to produce a combustion exhaust stream to heat at least the hydrogen-producing reforming region to the hydrogen-producing temperature and to heat the purification region.