US Patent 7097925 High temperature fuel cell power plant

Disclosed is a high temperature fuel cell power generation system that includes a high temperature fuel cell having an anode inlet and exhaust, and a cathode inlet and exhaust. The system also includes a gas separation means operable to recover hydrogen gas from the anode exhaust and to provide at least a portion of such hydrogen gas for recycle to the anode inlet. The system further includes energy recovery means operable to recover energy from the fuel cell exhaust gases and to provide at least a portion of such recovered energy to drive mechanical loads associated with the operation of the gas separation means, wherein a portion of the recovered hydrogen gas is provided for export from the generation system as hydrogen fuel.