TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - CHEMICAL ENGINEERING - Preferred Method: The method further comprises compressing the reformate in a compression unit to produce a compressed reformate. The fluctuations in the pressure and/or flow rate of the reformate are reduced by providing a controlled flow of a supplemental fluid to an inlet of the compression unit. The method further comprises sensing the pressure and/or flow rate of the reformate and controlling the flow of the supplemental fluid to the inlet of the compression unit in response to the sensed pressure and/or flow rate; and reducing fluctuations in the pressure and/or flow rate comprises buffering the reformate produced by the fuel processor. Impurity is removed from the flow of reformate within the adsorbent beds by adsorbent material capable of selectively adsorbing the impurity. The sensed product data comprises one or more of temperature, pressure, density, flow rate, and/or compositional data. The method further comprises controlling a flow of hydrogen-riched reformate out of the purification unit in response to the sensed product data; storing the hydrogen-enriched reformate in a tank, and where the hydrogen-enriched reformate is sensed upstream from the tank. The method further comprises regenerating at least one of the adsorbent beds to produce the hydrogen-depleted reformate.    TECHNOLOGY FOCUS - MECHANICAL ENGINEERING - Preferred Component: The fuel processor comprises an oxidizer and a reformer. Each of the adsorbent beds comprises an adsorbent material for selectively adsorbing impurity from the flow of reformate. The purification unit comprises a variable speed motor (141) capable of creating rotation between the valve assembly and the adsorbent beds. The apparatus further comprises a controller capable of operating the valve assembly in response to sensed product data. The apparatus further comprises a product valve disposed downstream of the product sensor and where the controller is capable of operating the product valve in response to the sensed product data; and a compression unit (130) capable of receiving the reformate and producing a compressed reformate for delivery to the purification unit. The compression unit comprises a compressor (135) operated at a selected speed and the valve assembly controls the flow of compressed reformate to the plurality of adsorbent beds independent of the speed of the compressor. The apparatus further comprises a sensor disposed upstream of the compression unit capable of sensing the pressure and/or flow rate of the reformate and where the variable opening valve is operated in response to a sensed pressure and/or flow rate. The apparatus further comprises a tank disposed downstream from the product sensor capable of storing the hydrogen-enriched reformate. The purification unit comprises a variable speed motor capable of creating rotation between the valve assembly and the plurality of adsorbent beds, and where the adsorption period is adjusted by adjusting the speed of the variable speed motor. Adjustment of the adsorption period comprises using a look-up table having correlations of sensed product data with one or more of a hydrogen-enriched reformate composition, hydrogen-enriched reformate flow rate, reformate pressure, and the speed of the variable speed motor.