NOVELTY - A counterflow heat recuperating system for heating of inlet air supply in reformer for producing hydrogen, having air inlet chamber (90) and adjacent exhaust flue gas outlet chamber (91) separated by common wall comprises: heat transmitting plates (96) transversely mounted on vertical wall, extending across the chambers and having openings to permit free inlet air and exhaust flue gas flow (78a) through plates, to facilitate heat flow from exhaust gas to inlet air; and sealing component (97) between plates and common wall to prevent mixing of exhaust flue gas and inlet air gas streams.    USE - As a counterflow heat recuperating system for heating of an inlet air supply in a reformer for producing hydrogen (claimed).    ADVANTAGE - The counterflow heat recuperating system for heating of an inlet air supply in a reformer for producing hydrogen comprising several heat transmitting plates extending across closely spaced air inlet chamber and the exhaust flue gas, provides a compact reformer with a low pressure drop in the burner air system. The reformer can be constructed as a compact unit, as the the burner air inlet chamber and exhaust chamber located in closely-spaced side-by-side orientation, and shows efficient heating from a burner, so that the burner gas has a minimal pressure drop in the system which results in a low power and low cost air supply for processing of the hydrogen rich fuel. In the reformer, the closely-spaced burner air inlet chamber and exhaust chamber present in a side-by-side orientation, as separated by a common wall, with the heat recuperator comprising a heat transfer assembly including heat transmitting plates extended between the two chambers; capture the heat in the burner flue gas and transmit it to the burner inlet air, preferably in a counterflow fashion, prior to exhausting of the flue gas from the system. This construction facilitates the flow of heat from the exhaust flue gas stream to the inlet air supply, and allows to preheat the burner inlet air with the flue gas exhaust. The sealing component prevents the transfer of fluids in the respective chambers into the other chamber, and further allows the perforated heat transmitting metal plates of assembly to operate at different temperatures, such that counterflow exchange can be improved. The location and structure of the burner, and several heat recuperating systems have a linear orientation related to the pressure vessel. The capacity of the reforming system is thus directly related to the linear length of the components in the final assembly and results in efficient and ready scaling of hydrogen generation. The reformer structure with the air and fuel supplies including the heat exchanges at the air inlet and exhaust passageways, along with structural components such as feedstock preheat coil, the coupled flow lines, the catalytic burner and the finned pressure vessel yield a significantly low burner gas pressure drop. As a result, the electrical power requirement for moving of the air and flue gases into and through the unit is low. This, in combination with low thermal losses, yields a corresponding increase in reformer efficiency. The construction provides for the efficient functioning of the catalyst and the heating of the catalyst to produce the free hydrogen, the feedstock and the air supply, permits use of a relatively low pressure air supply, permits optimizing the heating pattern of the stream over the length of the bed for the internal processing of the feedstock, and yields higher energy efficiency.    DETAILED DESCRIPTION - A counterflow heat recuperating system for heating of an inlet air supply in a reformer for producing hydrogen, having an air inlet chamber (90) and adjacent exhaust flue gas outlet chamber (91) separated by a common wall, comprises: several heat transmitting plates (96) formed of thermally conductive material, with each of the plates transversely mounted on the vertical wall and extending across the air inlet chamber and the exhaust flue gas outlet chamber and including several distributed openings to permit free inlet air flow and exhaust flue gas flow (78a) through the plates, to facilitate the flow of heat from the exhaust flue gas stream to the inlet air supply; and a sealing component (97) between the plates and the common wall to prevent mixing exhaust flue gas and inlet air gas streams. The heat transmitting plates are located in a plane perpendicular to the flow of the inlet air supply and the exhaust flue gas.    DESCRIPTION OF DRAWING(S) - The figure shows a steam reformer unit for producing purified hydrogen coupled to a fuel cell.    Heat transfer assembly (30)    Flue gas (78a)    Air inlet chamber (90)    Exhaust chamber (91)    Heat transmitting plates (96)    Sealing component/insulating sealing gasket. (97)