G. Alptekin, TDA Research, Inc., Wheat Ridge, CO
Chemical odorants made with sulfur-containing compounds are added to propane and natural gas supplies to facilitate leak detection. However, fuel cells require clean feed streams with very low levels of sulfur and other impurities. The sulfur can contaminate the catalysts used in fuel cell fuel processing systems and also poison the surfaces of the fuel cell anodes and degrade the power generation performance. Therefore, the sulfur content of the natural gas and any liquefied petroleum fraction needs to be reduced to less than 100 ppb. TDA Research, Inc. (TDA) is developing a low-cost, high-capacity, expendable sorbent that can remove sulfur-bearing odorants from natural gas and propane. As part of an extensive screening test, we prepared and tested both low temperature (i.e., ambient) and warm temperature (150-240oC) sorbents. This paper summarizes the results of these sorbents.
Summary: Natural gas and LPG contain small amounts of sulfur compounds, which are added to the fuels to facilitate leak detection. However, sulfur poisons catalysts used in the fuel cell stacks and fuel processors. TDA Research is developing a low cost, regenerable sorbents to remove organic sulfur compounds from these fuels.