TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - CHEMICAL ENGINEERING - Preferred Components: The tubular reactor is located within a combustion chamber and is packed with a catalyst (9, 37) employed for the conversion of hydrocarbon to industrial gases by reaction with steam. It has reactor having an upper portion that is surrounded by a convection chamber to enhance the transfer of heat from combustion products to the reaction chamber. The burner is a radiant metal fiber located within a combustion chamber. The radiant burner has a gas permeable zone that promotes the flameless combustion of fuel (45) and oxidant in order to heat the metal fiber to incandescence and radiate thermal energy to the reactor. The radiant burner temperature is monitored by the control, which includes a process controller that adjusts a metering valve for hydrocarbon feed to the reactor. The combustion air (44) is supplied to the reactor and is proportioned by the control as a function of the hydrocarbon feed rate to control the endothermic heat. It is also supplied to the reactor and is proportioned as a function of the hydrocarbon feed rate to control the waste heat that is used to generate steam and to maintain a constant steam to hydrocarbon feed ratio in the reformer. The fuel cell produces anode off-gas (43) fed to the radiant burner. The auxiliary hydrocarbon fuel is mixed with the anode off-gas that is fed to the radiant burner. The auxiliary hydrocarbon fuel is proportioned by the control to be fed as a function of the hydrocarbon feed rate to control the hydrogen utilization in the fuel cell.Preferred Apparatus: The apparatus includes a delivery mechanism that delivers combustion products from the combustion chamber to a waste heat boiler to generate steam. It also includes a high temperature water-gas shift reactor, and where a reformate (6) produced by the first reactor is cooled in a feed/product heat exchanger to achieve an inlet temperature of 550-700, preferably 375-500 degrees F to the high temperature water-gas shift reactor. It also includes a separator and the effluent after passing through the waste heat boiler is further cooled in an air cooler to recover water (17) in the separator. It also includes a selective oxidizer. The effluent after passing through the air cooler and the separator is mixed with a small air before being sent to the selective oxidizer to reduce the carbon monoxide concentration in the effluent to less than 10 ppm.