Patent ID: 8652694

Claim:
A water transfer assembly incorporated into a molten carbonate fuel cell system having an anode and a cathode, said anode being structured to receive fuel and to output anode exhaust and said cathode being structured to receive oxidant gas and to output cathode exhaust, said water transfer assembly comprising: a first cooling assembly comprising a cooling path that receives said cathode exhaust and spray water and quench cools the cathode exhaust using the spray water, an injector for injecting the spray water into the cathode exhaust in the cooling path, and a first separating member for separating a first water portion and non-volatile contaminants from said cathode exhaust and outputting cleansed cathode exhaust and said first water portion, wherein said first cooling assembly processes the first water portion to remove the non-volatile contaminants from the first water portion and recycles the first water portion after processing for use as the spray water; and a second cooling assembly comprising a cooling member that receives said cleansed cathode exhaust and cools the cleansed cathode exhaust, and a second separating member that separates a second water portion from said cleansed cathode exhaust, said second water portion being suitable for humidifying said fuel supplied to said anode, and said cooling member comprising one of an air fan and a heat exchanger recovering waste heat from the cleansed cathode exhaust, wherein the cleansed cathode exhaust has a temperature below 200° F. before being conveyed to the cooling member of the second cooling assembly, and wherein the water transfer assembly is part of a molten carbonate fuel cell system.