Patent ID: 8920770

Claim:
A system, comprising: an internal combustion engine operationally coupled to a fuel supply and producing an exhaust stream; a heat exchanger structured to transfer heat from the exhaust stream to a hydrocarbon stream; a catalyst receiving the hydrocarbon stream and structured to react the hydrocarbon stream to produce hydrogen and modified hydrocarbons, the modified hydrocarbons comprising hydrocarbons having a lower saturation state than the hydrocarbon stream, wherein the catalyst comprises a Pt—Sn/γ-alumina-ZrO 2 /SO 4 2− hybrid calcined in air for about 12 hours at 550° C.; a separator that divides the hydrogen and modified hydrocarbons into a hydrogen stream comprising primarily the hydrogen and a modified hydrocarbon stream comprising primarily the modified hydrocarbons; and a means for recovering energy from the hydrogen.