Patent ID: 7033407

Claim:
A method for auto-oxidation, internal heating reformation to produce hydrogen, which comprises: preparing a columnar catalytic member containing a reforming catalyst, a shift catalyst and an oxidation catalyst, the columnar catalytic member having a multiplicity of axial passages; preparing a reformable gas comprising a hydrocarbon or an aliphatic alcohol, and water vapor mixed together; rotating said columnar catalytic member while passing said gas therethrough transversely with respect to a cross-section of the catalyst member such that the gas first flows along a forward path extending in one direction through a first portion of said axial passages which accounts for one part of said cross-section and then flows along a backward path extending in the other direction through a second portion of said axial passages which accounts for another part of said cross-section, thereby causing said gas to undergo reforming and shift reactions to form hydrogen for recovery, while the gas makes a round trip along said forward path and said backward path; and introducing an oxygen containing gas into one or both of said forward path and said backward path.