Fuel flexibility of solid oxide fuel cells

Abstract

One of the major advantages of SOFCs is their high fuel flexibility. Next to natural gas and hydrogen, which are today's most common fuels for SOFC-systems and cell-/stack-testing respectively, various other fuels are applicable as well. In the literature, a number of promising results show that available fuels as propane, butane, ammonia, gasoline, diesel etc. can be applied. Here, the performance of an anode supported cell operated in specialized single cell test benches with different gaseous and liquid fuels and reformates thereof is presented. Fuels as ammonia, dissolved urea (AddBlue TM ), methane/steam and ethanol/water mixtures can directly be fed to the cell, whereas propane and diesel require external reforming. It is shown that in case of a stable fuel supply the cell performance with such fuels is similar to that of appropriate mixtures of H 2 , N 2 , CO, CO 2 , and steam, if the impact of endothermic reforming or decomposition reactions is considered. Even though a stable fuel cell operation with such fuels is possible in a single cell test bench, it should be pointed out that an appropriate fuel processing will be mandatory on the system level.

Advancing Electrode Properties through Functionalization for Solid Oxide Cells Application: A Review

“…The present section exemplifies the functionality of redox chemistry of fuels like H 2 O/H 2 , CO 2 /CO, C x H y O z (hydrocarbon and oxycarbon) and Ammonia (as an alternate carbon free fuel) [64] …”

“…The present section exemplifies the functionality of redox chemistry of fuels like H 2 O/H 2 , CO 2 /CO, C x H y O z (hydrocarbon and oxycarbon) and Ammonia (as an alternate carbon free fuel). [64] The reversible operation of SOCs using a fuel feed of H 2 O/H 2 primarily comprises of redox-coupled electrochemical reactions namely: (i) hydrogen reduction and oxidation at fuel electrode, HOR/HER and (ii) oxidation of oxide ion and reduction of molecular oxygen at air electrode, OER/ORR under EC and FC mode of operation respectively. Electrode reactions in all cases are represented as;…”

Direct utilization of gaseous fuels in metal supported solid oxide fuel cells

“…High temperature solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are capable of operating with other readily-available fuels. The availability of suitable fuel and an established refueling infrastructure is a pre-requisite for market introduction of fuel cells, giving fuel-flexible SOFCs a significant advantage [1]. Symmetric metal-supported SOFCs (MS-SOFCs) offer several advantages over conventional anode or electrolyte-supported SOFCs, including: inexpensive materials, rapid start-up capability, increased mechanical strength, and excellent tolerance to redox cycling.…”

Solid‐state synthesis of BaCe0.16Y0.04Fe0.8O3‐δ cathode for protonic ceramic fuel cells

“…Among the numerous fuel cell types, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have been studied more because they work at high temperatures and do not use noble metal catalysts 3,4 . At the same time, thanks to the higher operating temperature and electrode activity, SOFCs have the advantage of fuel flexibility, and gas, liquid and even solid carbon or biomass products can be used as their fuels 5–10 . However, the higher working temperature of SOFCs brings the problems of sealing difficulty and performance degradation.…”

“…3,4 At the same time, thanks to the higher operating temperature and electrode activity, SOFCs have the advantage of fuel flexibility, and gas, liquid and even solid carbon or biomass products can be used as their fuels. [5][6][7][8][9][10] However, the higher working temperature of SOFCs brings the problems of sealing difficulty and performance degradation. Nowadays, it is generally accepted that the reduction of operating temperatures to the range of 400-800 C is key for accelerating the widespread application of SOFCs.…”