Intermediate Temperature Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (IT-SOFC) technology offers interesting opportunities in the panorama of a larger penetration of renewable and distributed power generation, namely high electrical efficiency at manageable scales for both remote and industrial applications. In order to optimize the performance and the operating conditions of such a pre-commercial technology, an effective synergy between experimentation and simulation is fundamental. For this purpose, starting from the SIMFC (SIMulation of Fuel Cells) code set-up and successfully validated for Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells, a new version of the code has been developed for IT-SOFCs. The new release of the code allows the calculation of the maps of the main electrical, chemical, and physical parameters on the cell plane of planar IT-SOFCs fed in co-flow. A semi-empirical kinetic formulation has been set-up, identifying the related parameters thanks to a devoted series of experiments, and integrated in SIMFC. Thanks to a multi-sampling innovative experimental apparatus the simultaneous measurement of temperature and gas composition on the cell plane was possible, so that a preliminary validation of the model on local values was carried out. A good agreement between experimental and simulated data was achieved in terms of cell voltages and local temperatures, but also, for the first time, in terms of local concentration on the cell plane, encouraging further developments. This numerical tool is proposed for a better interpretation of the phenomena occurring in IT-SOFCs and a consequential optimization of their performance.

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Technologies capable of efficiently exploiting unavoidable CO2 streams, have to be deeply investigated and deployed during the transition phase to achieve long-term climate neutrality targets. Among the technologies, Molten Carbonate Cells (MCC) Operating in Electrolysis Mode (MCEC) represents a promising facility to valorize CO2-rich waste streams, which are typically available in industrial plants, by their conversion into a high-value H2/CO syngas. These gaseous products can be reintegrated in a plant or reused in different applications. This study analyzes the integration of a system of the MCEC unit under different operating conditions in terms of composition, current density, and the utilization of fuels in a steam-reforming process of an Italian oil refinery via a mixed experimental-simulative approach. The aim of the current study is to assess the improvement in the overall product yield and further impacts of the MCEC unit on the plant efficiency. The results have shown that it is possible to obtain an electrochemical Specific Energy Consumption for the production of H2 of 3.24 kWh/NmH23 using the MCEC, whereby the possible integration of a 1-MWe module with a reformer of the proposed plant not only increases the hydrogen yield but also decreases the amount of fuel needed to assist the reforming reaction and separates a CO2 stream after additional purification via an oxy-fuel combustor, consequently determining lower greenhouse gases emissions.