Patent ID: 8119299

Claim:
A fuel processor apparatus, comprising: a processor reactor having a plurality of stages generating a reformate from a feed; the feed to the processor reactor wherein the feed conveys fuel, air, and water to the processor reactor; and a coolant subsystem physically separate from the feed such that there is no fluid communication between the feed and a coolant, wherein the coolant subsystem circulates the coolant through two or more of the plurality of stages of the processor reactor, the coolant comprises water thereby defining a coolant water which at least a portion thereof comprises byproduct water that is an effluent byproduct from the process reactor, wherein the coolant subsystem includes: a cooler that receives the coolant circulated from the two or more of the plurality of stages of the processor reactor and exchanging heat therefrom; a coolant storage that stores the coolant received from the cooler; and a plurality of pumps in fluid communication with the coolant storage, each of the plurality of pumps controlling the flow of coolant to one of the two or more of the plurality of stages of the processor reactor, wherein a fuel cell is powered by the reformate generated by the processor reactor.