Patent ID: 8445147

Claim:
A humidifier assembly for humidifying fuel for use in a fuel cell system, comprising: a water heater adapted to receive recycled water and to generate heated water using heat from cathode exhaust, wherein a portion of said heated water comprises steam; a deaerator column receiving said heated water from said water heater and supply water and passing said steam from said heated water through said supply water so as to remove air and volatile contaminants from said supply water and to condense a portion of said steam into said supply water, and a fuel saturator column adapted to receive fuel and deaerated cleansed water from said deaerator column, at least a portion of said deaerated cleansed water comprising said heated water, and to humidify said fuel with a first portion of said deaerated cleansed water, said fuel saturator column outputting humidified fuel for use in said fuel cell system and a second portion of said deaerated cleansed water for use as recycled water in said water heater.