NOVELTY - A fuel cell system (50) comprises a catalytic combustor (54) in fluid communication with a fuel cell (52) for receiving a portion(s) of an anode exhaust (58) and a portion(s) of a cathode exhaust (70), and for catalytically reacting the anode and cathode exhausts to produce an offgas having an elevated temperature that is greater than the temperature of the anode or cathode exhaust; and a heater(s) (72) in heat transfer relationship with the combustor to heat a catalyst within the combustor to initiate catalytic combustion.    USE - Used as proton exchange membrane (PEM), phosphoric acid, or alkali fuel cell system for powering automobile or other vehicles.    ADVANTAGE - The fuel cell system enables utilization of metal hydride storage tanks with higher hydrogen storage capacities without requiring independent heat generation to release the hydrogen from the metal hydride storage tanks; achieves increased temperature, providing faster kinetics that enables fast re-charge of hydrogen; and achieves an overall reduction in hydrogen released to the atmosphere as the catalytic combustor will reclaim most of the hydrogen content of the anode exhaust. The decomposition temperature is 280degreesC that is not feasible for conventional fuel cell system. The higher temperature offgas can be used to vary the pressure of the metal hydride storage tank making it unnecessary to use a blower to provide the released hydrogen to the fuel cell.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - A fuel cell system comprises a hydrogen storage system for storing and releasing hydrogen; a fuel cell in fluid communication with the hydrogen storage system for receiving released hydrogen from the hydrogen storage system, and for electrochemically reacting the hydrogen with an oxidant to produce electricity, a cathode exhaust, and an anode exhaust; and a catalytic combustor in fluid communication with the fuel cell for receiving a portion(s) of the anode exhaust and a portion(s) of the cathode exhaust, and for catalytically reacting the anode and cathode exhausts to produce an offgas having an elevated temperature that is greater than the temperature of the anode or cathode exhaust. An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is included for a method of cold starting a fuel cell system.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure is a schematic illustration of fuel cell system.    Fuel cell system (50)    Fuel cell (52)    Catalytic combustor (54)    Anode exhaust (58)    Cathode exhaust (70)    Heater (72)