PCI has developed a fuel processor under multiple Army and NSF programs that can operate on JP-8 and diesel logistics fuels. Current work with Diesel/JP-8 reformers has shown that auto thermal reforming (ATR) is the best choice of technology to maintain a balance among size, weight, performance, durability and logistics. See diagram at right for a process diagram.

As shown in the diagram, the flow through the ATR is indicated by arrows. Water, fuel and air are fed to the fuel processor. The ATR is started with fuel and air in CPOX mode and operated until steam is available. It is then transitioned to ATR mode.  After reforming, the fuel is further processed by passing through a sulfur trap.  The reformate exiting the fuel processor has less than 1 ppm sulfur.
 

Figure 1: Process diagram of the auto thermal reforming system.

Additional components such as pumps and controller are separately packaged and are controlled. The result is a manageable, portable and compact package. A photo of the fuel reformer (next to a 2 liter bottle as a size indicator) hardware is shown in Figure 2. 

The fuel reformer has many desirable attributes as summarized in the table below:

Figure 2: Photo of the prototype