Durability of direct internal reforming of methanol as fuel for solid oxide fuel cell with double-sided cathodes

Ru, Yadong; Sang, Junkang; Xia, Changrong; Wei, Wen‐Cheng J.; Guan, Wanbing

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.12.222

Cited by 38 publications

(13 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…The solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has attracted wide attention because of its high energy conversion efficiency and low emission of pollutants. , The high operating temperature of the SOFC (600–1000 °C) allows direct internal reforming (DIR) of hydrocarbons including methane, methanol, ethanol, propane, etc. − These hydrocarbon fuels are easier to handle for fuel cell applications than pure hydrogen. This is because hydrocarbon fuels are usually mass produced at low cost, and the technologies of liquefaction, transportation, and storage are well-established in the industry.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power Generation by Flat-Tube Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Enhanced Internal Reforming of Methanol

Sang

Yang

et al. 2022

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

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Methanol is a promising fuel for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) because of its low cost and ease of storage and transportation. In this work, the performance and long-term durability of direct methanol flat-tube SOFCs are investigated under different steam/carbon (S/C) ratios. It is confirmed that the S/C ratio exhibits little influence on cell performance but strongly affects long-term stability. The cell is discharged stably under high S/C ratios of 1.5 and 1.2, while it fails abruptly under a low S/C ratio of 1 due to severe carbon deposition. Extra nickel/yttria stabilized zirconia (Ni/YSZ) catalyst is added into the anode channels to serve as a prereformer. With improved internal reforming, the methanol conversion rate is promoted to 95% under S/C = 1, higher than that without extra catalyst and most results reported in the literature, and carbon deposition within the anode is significantly suppressed. Thus, no performance degradation is observed for 300 h of discharge under S/C = 1. On the basis of the experimental and simulating results, the mechanism of methanol conversion within the flat-tube cells is discussed.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Power Generation by Flat-Tube Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Enhanced Internal Reforming of Methanol

Sang

Yang

et al. 2022

ACS Sustainable Chem. Eng.

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“…These fuel cells therefore can perform this reforming internally inside the fuel cell stack and are then referred to as internal reforming fuel cells (IR-FCs). While natural gas may be preferred with these IR-FCs, their fuel flexibility is shown through studies with other fuels such as methanol (Ru et al, 2020), ethanol (Dogdibegovic et al, 2020), ammonia (Afif et al, 2016), and biogas (Escudero et al, 2021). It has been realized that these fuel cells next to the conventional products, electric power and heat, can also produce hydrogen when operated at low fuel utilization, where we emphasize that the hydrogen is not pure but in the form of a gas mixture.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring the Possibility of Using Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell for the Flexible Coproduction of Hydrogen and Power

2021

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Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that are conventionally used to convert the chemical energy of fuels into electricity while producing heat as a byproduct. High temperature fuel cells such as molten carbonate fuel cells and solid oxide fuel cells produce significant amounts of heat that can be used for internal reforming of fuels such as natural gas to produce gas mixtures which are rich in hydrogen, while also producing electricity. This opens up the possibility of using high temperature fuel cells in systems designed for flexible coproduction of hydrogen and power at very high system efficiency. In a previous study, the flowsheet software Cycle-Tempo has been used to determine the technical feasibility of a solid oxide fuel cell system for flexible coproduction of hydrogen and power by running the system at different fuel utilization factors (between 60 and 95%). Lower utilization factors correspond to higher hydrogen production while at a higher fuel utilization, standard fuel cell operation is achieved. This study uses the same basis to investigate how a system with molten carbonate fuel cells performs in identical conditions also using Cycle-Tempo. A comparison is made with the results from the solid oxide fuel cell study.

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“…In mobile applications, liquid fuel can operate the SOFC system directly with easy storage and transportation, reducing the system size and complexity . Without depending on the hydrogen infrastructure, the SOFC system has safer and cheaper refueling than the hydrogen fuel cell system .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…8 In mobile applications, liquid fuel can operate the SOFC system directly with easy storage and transportation, reducing the system size and complexity. 9 Without depending on the hydrogen infrastructure, the SOFC system has safer and cheaper refueling than the hydrogen fuel cell system. 5 In addition, the waste heat generated by the SOFC can be used in the endothermic steam-reforming process and cabin heating, avoiding the trouble of cold start in winter and proton membrane humidity maintenance in hot climates.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Design and Evaluation of a Metal-Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Vehicle Power System with Bioethanol Onboard Reforming

Zhao

et al. 2021

ACS Omega

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A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has wide stationary and mobile application prospects due to its high efficiency and fuel flexibility. The SOFC system’s performance depends on the reforming option and system design. In this paper, we designed a novel SOFC auxiliary power unit (APU) system with ethanol on-board reforming aiming at vehicle application. The thermodynamic analysis is employed to evaluate the ethanol-fueled SOFC performance of different reforming options with a metal-supported SOFC working at 600 °C and a 0.3 A/cm2 current density. The electrical efficiency of the SOFC can reach a maximum of 50% with ethanol autothermal reforming. Under the optimal reforming option and operating conditions, the conceptual SOFC-APU system design is identified with the trade-off between system efficiency and ethanol flow from the startup and stable operation phase. The results show that the system efficiency of 44.4% can be achieved with a 0.42 g/s ethanol flow at the startup phase. During the stable operation, the electrical efficiency and exergy efficiency of the SOFC-APU system can reach 55.4 and 77.1% with a 70% anode gas recirculation ratio, respectively.

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Durability of direct internal reforming of methanol as fuel for solid oxide fuel cell with double-sided cathodes

Cited by 38 publications

References 27 publications

Power Generation by Flat-Tube Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Enhanced Internal Reforming of Methanol

Power Generation by Flat-Tube Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Enhanced Internal Reforming of Methanol

Exploring the Possibility of Using Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell for the Flexible Coproduction of Hydrogen and Power

Design and Evaluation of a Metal-Supported Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Vehicle Power System with Bioethanol Onboard Reforming

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