Patent ID: 6932848

Claim:
In a fuel processing system (FPS) ( 110 ) for a fuel cell power plant ( 115 ) including a fuel cell stack assembly (CSA) ( 56 ), the FPS ( 110 ) including at least a water gas shift (WGS) reaction section ( 12 , 120 ) for receiving hydrocarbon reformate containing CO and reducing the concentration of CO in the reformate via the shift reaction, and at least a preferential oxidation (PROX) section ( 40 ) for further reducing the concentration of CO in the reformate to a concentration acceptable for operating the CSA ( 56 ), the improvement wherein: the WGS section ( 12 , 120 ) includes a low temperature reactor ( 124 ) with a high activity catalyst therein for reducing the concentration of CO in the reformate to a relatively low level, thereby relatively reducing the structural volume of the FPS ( 110 ), said high activity catalyst comprises a noble-metal-on-ceria based, nanophase-structure catalyst in the low temperature reactor ( 124 ) of the WGS section ( 120 ) being active at temperatures as low as 250° C.