Patent ID: 8765319

Claim:
A method for operating a fuel cell system ( 1 ) having a fuel supply line for supplying fuel to the anode side of the fuel cell system ( 1 ), an anode exhaust recirculation circuit, a recirculation blower ( 11 ) disposed in the anode exhaust gas recirculation circuit of the fuel cell system ( 1 ), a drive turbine ( 12 ) connected to drive the recirculation blower ( 11 ), a motor driven air compressor ( 5 ), piping connecting the outlet of the air compressor ( 5 ) to the cathode side ( 4 ) of the fuel cell system, piping connecting the outlet of the compressor ( 5 ) to the drive turbine ( 12 ) bypassing the cathode side ( 4 ) of the fuel cell system, said method comprising: impacting an air-driven drive turbine ( 12 ) with compressed air (vL) supplied directly from the motor driven compressor ( 5 ) to drive the air-driven drive turbine ( 12 ), and using the air-driven drive turbine ( 12 ) to drive the recirculation blower to resupply the fuel (BS) exiting the fuel cell system ( 1 ) downstream of the anode side back into the fuel supply line upstream of the anode side.