NOVELTY - Generating hydrogen from hydrocarbon feedstock comprises igniting feedstock, reforming partial oxidation effluent stream, passing reforming effluent and water to water gas shift zone containing catalyst zones, passing crude hydrogen stream to anode of fuel cell and contacting cathode with oxygen stream to produce electric power, burning waste gas, passing flue gas to heat exchange zone, passing effluent to partial oxidation zone and continuing ignition.    USE - Used in hydrogen generation and fuel cell electric power generation operations, especially small-scale systems.    ADVANTAGE - Simplified control and lower temperatures allow for carbon steel and/or stainless steel construction. System is efficient, does not require external fuel and has high degree of feedstock flexibility at low cost.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - Starting up a system for generating hydrogen from a hydrocarbon feedstock for a fuel cell comprises:    (a) passing a hydrocarbon (HC) feedstock and a steam stream to a pre-reforming zone and withdrawing a pre-reforming effluent stream;    (b) passing the pre-reforming effluent stream and a first air stream at a first air rate to a partial oxidation zone containing a partial oxidation catalyst;    (c) igniting the HC feedstock having a feedstock temperature to raise the feedstock temperature to effective partial oxidation conditions and to convert the HC feedstock to a partial oxidation effluent stream;    (d) passing the partial oxidation effluent stream to a reforming zone to produce a reforming effluent stream at a reforming exit temperature of 500-700degreesC;    (e) passing the reforming effluent and a first water stream to a water gas shift zone containing water gas shift catalyst zone(s) in intimate contact with a water gas shift heat exchange zone to establish a steady-state temperature profile to produce a crude hydrogen product stream and simultaneously passing a second water stream to the water gas shift exchange zone to cool the water gas shift zone to provide a steam stream;    (f) passing the crude H2 product stream to a H2 processing module to provide a processed H2 stream;    (g) passing the processed H2 stream to an anode side of the fuel cell and contacting a cathode side of the fuel cell with an O2-containing stream to produce electric power and withdrawing an anode waste gas from the anode side;    (h) burning the anode waste gas admixed with a second air stream in a burner zone to produce a flue gas stream at a flue gas temperature of 500-700degreesC;    (i) passing the flue gas stream to a pre-reforming heat exchange zone to establish a steady-state temperature profile to heat the pre-forming zone to an effective pre-forming temperature to convert (part of) the HC feedstock and a portion of the steam stream to provide a pre-reforming effluent at a pre-reforming exit temperature; and    (j) passing the pre-reforming effluent to the partial oxidation zone and continuing the igniting step until effective partial oxidation conditions are achieved.    An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for a control system for a process to produce electric power from a HC feedstock.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows a schematic block flow diagram illustrating core process.    Feedstock line Air stream (1)    Water stream line (4)    Hydrogen product stream line (6)    Steam stream line (7)    Anode waste gas line (8)    Air stream line (9)    Pre-reforming zone (11)    Heat exchange zone (14)    Water gas shift reaction zone (16)    Heat exchange zone (18)    Burner zone (20)    Partial oxidation zone (22)    Reaction zone (24)    Reforming zone (26)