Patent ID: 7674538

Claim:
A fuel cell system for generating electricity by combination of oxygen with hydrogen-containing fuel, comprising: a) a plurality of individual fuel cells organized into a fuel cell stack assembly including a plurality of cathodes and anodes, said cathodes and said anodes in said stack assembly are provided with air and reformate passages, respectively, adjacent thereto, each of said air passages includes an inlet and an outlet, and each of said reformate passages includes an inlet and an outlet; and b) a catalytic reformer for reforming hydrocarbon to provide hydrogen-containing reformate fuel to said stack assembly, wherein said stack assembly exhausts syngas, wherein at least 60% of said exhausted syngas is recycled into said reformer, wherein said air and reformate passages are formed such that air and reformate are flowed through said respective passages in opposite directions such that a substantial amount of cooling is provided on both an anode and a cathode side of the fuel cell, and wherein said inlets of said air passages are adjacent to said outlets of said reformate passages, and wherein said inlets of said reformate passages are adjacent to said outlets of said air passages.