Patent ID: 8535839

Claim:
A fuel cell system, comprising: at least one fuel cell stack; an anode tail gas oxidizer (ATO); an ATO exhaust conduit; and at least one device selected from a fuel heat exchanger, an external reformer, or a fuel heat exchanger containing a fuel reformation catalyst; wherein the at least one device is thermally integrated with the ATO exhaust conduit such that in operation an ATO exhaust stream in the ATO exhaust conduit heats a fuel inlet stream passing through the at least one device; wherein the at least one device comprises the fuel heat exchanger containing a fuel reformation catalyst; and wherein the fuel heat exchanger is connected to a fuel exhaust conduit which in operation provides a fuel exhaust stream from the at least one fuel cell stack to the fuel heat exchanger, and the at least one fuel cell stack comprises at least one SOFC stack.