Patent ID: 7858256

Claim:
A fuel cell system, comprising: a fuel cell stack; a heat transfer device adapted to transfer heat from a cathode exhaust stream of the fuel cell stack to water to be provided to a fuel inlet stream; an air preheater which is adapted to preheat an air inlet stream using heat from an anode exhaust stream, wherein the anode exhaust stream is maintained separate from the cathode exhaust stream to preheat the air inlet stream; and a cathode recuperator heat exchanger configured to transfer heat from the cathode exhaust stream to the air inlet stream, while the cathode exhaust stream is separate from the anode exhaust stream; wherein the cathode recuperator has a size that is small enough such that the cathode recuperator heat exchanger is adapted to provide the cathode exhaust stream exiting the cathode recuperator heat exchanger at a temperature of at least 200° C.; wherein the cathode recuperator heat exchanger is operatively connected downstream from the air preheater.