Ford and Mobil Make Progress On New Gasoline Reformer For Fuel Cell Vehicles

DEARBORN, Mich., -Ford Motor Company and Mobil Corporation announced significant progress in developing a smaller, lighter, less expensive on-board gasoline fuel processor for fuel cell vehicles.

Scientists and engineers are working in Michigan and New Jersey on a gasoline reformer to meet specific requirements in cost, performance, safety, reliability and fuel economy, while maximizing the use of existing fuel infrastructure. For example, in fuel economy, the system is anticipated to provide a 50 percent improvement over today's internal combustion engine.

Today's most accepted technology is a Partial Oxidation (POX) reformer. The reforming process begins at temperatures of 800 to 1,300 degrees Celsius (1,472 to 2,372 degrees Fahrenheit) with the fuel going through four stages of reforming and gas cleanup. The resulting hydrogen-rich gas stream is supplied as a fuel to a PEM fuel cell power system.

"While much of the research is still ahead of us, we have developed new catalysts that allow the reformation process to begin at much lower temperatures," said Jim Katzer, vice president of Technology for Mobil. "We are very encouraged that this will result in a less expensive system because we will have lower costs for mechanical design and be able to use more conventional materials as opposed to exotic alloys."

"One goal of our strategic alliance was to speed up the research and development process," said Bill Powers, vice president of Research for Ford. "The promising results of our work on fuel processing give us hope that our customers and the environment will benefit."

The system would not only meet the team's requirement of achieving at least 50 percent fuel economy improvement, but would meet future super ultra low-emission vehicle standards.

The work is part of an alliance announced in March 1998 to speed the development and integration of breakthrough fuel and vehicle technologies, with the goal of producing large gains in vehicle fuel efficiency while significantly reducing emissions.

Another Ford-Mobil team is working on developing and demonstrating an advanced direct-injection diesel engine, fuel and after-treatment system.