Patent ID: 8445146

Claim:
A fuel cell system comprising: a fuel cell stack; a distillation unit configured to receive a fuel from a fuel source, wherein the fuel cell stack provides heat to the distillation unit using at least one exhaust stream of the fuel cell stack; and a controller programmed to: control a temperature in the distillation unit to produce a distillate vapor from the fuel having remaining water vapor and a ratio of fuel to water vapor, wherein the temperature in the distillation unit is controlled by controlling the heat provided to the distillation unit using the at least one exhaust stream of the fuel cell; determine when the ratio of fuel to water vapor allows the vapor to be directly reformed using steam reformation; provide the distillate vapor containing the remaining water vapor from the distillation unit to the fuel cell stack during fuel cell system operation when the ratio of fuel to water vapor as determined by the controller allows the vapor to be directly reformed using steam reformation; and provide the distillate vapor containing the remaining water vapor from the distillation unit for additional distillation when the ratio of fuel to water vapor as determined by the controller does not allow the vapor to be directly reformed using steam reformation.