An afterburner-powered methane/steam reformer for a solid oxide fuel cells application

Abstract

Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems can be fueled by natural gas when the reforming reaction is conducted in a stack. Due to its maturity and safety, indirect internal reforming is usually used. A strong endothermic methane/steam reforming process needs a large amount of heat, and it is convenient to provide thermal energy by burning the remainders of fuel from a cell. In this work, the mathematical model of afterburner-powered methane/steam reformer is proposed. To analyze the effect of a fuel composition on SOFC performance, the zero-dimensional model of a fuel cell connected with a reformer is formulated. It is shown that the highest efficiency of a solid oxide fuel cell is achieved when the steam-to-methane ratio at the reforming reactor inlet is high. List of symbols a, b reaction orders, (-)Tafel equation coefficients, (V) C p constant pressure specific heat, (J molFaraday constant, F = 96485.3329 C mol −1Marcin Mozdzierz

A Three-Dimensional Microstructure-Scale Simulation of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Anode—The Analysis of Stack Performance Enhancement After a Long-Term Operation

“…The continuous electrode theory assumes that the electrode can be approximated as a continuous medium, which allows for simultaneous flow of electrons, ions, and gaseous reagents. The anodic, or the cathodic half-reaction may take place anywhere within the continuous electrode-the influence of irregular morphological features of the microstructure is taken into consideration by introducing macroscopic parameters, which are, in general, distributed homogeneously within the modeled volume [15][16][17][18][19][20]. Fully three-dimensional models which employ a non-continuous computational domain to account for the irregular microstructure geometry are less common [21][22][23][24], since simulations performed using the continuous electrode theory require less computational resources.…”

Numerical study on the effect of discrete catalytic layer arrangement on methane steam reforming performance

“…The MSR reaction process consists of two mainly reversible reactions: [14][15][16] methane steam reforming and water gas shi reaction, each of which is shown in eqn ( 1) and (2).…”

YSZ/LSM Composite Cathode Deposited by Solution Precursor Plasma Spraying

“…Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are highly efficient chemical fuel cells, which have been widely used in submarines [1], automobiles [2], aircraft [3], and other fields [4]. The successful application of this technology is of great significance for alleviating the energy crisis and protecting the ecological environment [5].…”