SUMMARY

The need for high density portable power sources has increased drastically due to a shift in the automotive industry away from internal combustion engines and towards low- and zero-emission systems. Fuel cells are an advantageous portable power generation source due to their potential for high efficiency, reliable operation owing to an absence of moving parts, and zero CO2 emission when hydrogen fuel is used. Specifically, portable hydrogen fuel cells have received significant attention. A major obstacle facing this technology, however, is the low volumetric energy density and difficult of portable storage of hydrogen gas. This work develops and optimizes a portable catalytic reactor which utilizes the high volumetric energy density of liquid hydrocarbon fuels and serves as a fuel reformer to produce hydrogen on-demand. In particular, this work focuses on temporal modulation of reactor bed temperature, at periods aligning to timescales of phenomena occurring within the reactor in order to improve performance over the steady-state system.