A high performance direct carbon solid oxide fuel cell fueled by Ca-loaded activated carbon

Ca-loaded activated carbon is developed as fuel for direct carbon solid oxide fuel cells (DC-SOFCs), operating without any carrier gas and liquid medium. Ca is loaded on activated carbon through impregnation technique in the form of CaO, which exhibits excellent catalytic activity and significantly promotes the output performance of DC-SOFCs. DC-SOFCs fueled by activated carbon with different Ca loading content (0, 1, 3, 5 and 7 wt. %) are tested and the performances are compared with the DC-SOFC running on the conventional Fe-loaded activated carbon. It is found that the performance of the DC-SOFC with 5 wt. % (373 mW cm^?2) and 7 wt. % (378 mW cm^?2) Ca-loaded activated carbon is significantly higher than that of the cells operated on 5 wt. % Fe-loaded activated carbon, 1 wt. % and 3 wt. % Ca-loaded activated carbon. The discharging time and fuel utilization of the DC-SOFC with 5 wt. % Ca-loaded activated carbon are also the optimal ones among all the cells. The microstructure, element distribution and carbon conversion rate of the Ca-loaded carbon, the impedance spectra of the corresponding DC-SOFCs are measured. The reasons for the reduced fuel utilization of 7 wt. % Ca-loaded carbon fuel are analyzed and the advantage of Ca-loaded carbon for DC-SOFCs is demonstrated in detail.     

Performance of sorption-enhanced chemical looping gasification system coupled with solid oxide fuel cell using exergy analysis

Coal gasification system integrated with solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) provides a promising energy conversion way owing to its high efficiency. To get a deep insight into the energy performance of this system, a thermodynamic evaluation is implemented. Meanwhile, the technologies of chemical looping and CO₂ sorption are introduced into this integration system. It is found that the addition of oxygen carrier and sorbent into coal gasification system can promote the output power of the SOFC with a higher exergy destruction, where the exergy efficiency of most modules in the system can reach 80% except tar separation. The results also reveal that a suitable improvement of gasifying agent amount is beneficial to the energy performance of the system. When the H₂O/C molar ratio is increased to 3.0, the SOFC exergy efficiency of 97% can be achieved.     

Carbon monoxide-fueled solid oxide fuel cell

This study explored CO as a primary fuel in anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) of both tubular and planar geometries. Tubular single cells with active areas of 24 cm² generated power up to 16 W. Open circuit voltages for various CO/CO₂ mixture compositions agreed well with the expected values. In flowing dry CO, power densities up to 0.67 W cm⁻² were achieved at 1 A cm⁻² and 850 °C. This performance compared well with 0.74 W cm⁻² measured for pure H₂ in the same cell and under the same operating conditions. Performance stability of tubular cells was investigated by long-term testing in flowing CO during which no carbon deposition was observed. At a constant current of 9.96 A (or, 0.414 A cm⁻²) power output remained unchanged over 375 h of continuous operation at 850 °C. In addition, a 50-cell planar SOFC stack was operated at 800 °C on 95% CO (balance CO₂), which generated 1176 W of total power at a power density of 224 mW cm⁻². The results demonstrate that CO is a viable primary fuel for SOFCs.     

Effects of coal syngas impurities on anodes of solid oxide fuel cells

A literature review is conducted to summarize the studies on the identification of impurities in coal syngas and their effects on the performance of Ni-yttria stabilized zirconia (Ni-YSZ) anode of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Coal syngas typically contains major species, CO, H₂, CO₂, H₂O, CH₄, N₂, and H₂S as well as trace impurities. Thermodynamic equilibrium calculations have indicated that trace impurities species such as Be, Cr, K, Na, and V in the coal syngas form condensed phases under warm gas cleanup conditions and can be effectively removed by the cleanup processes. For meaningful data comparison, a practical parameter is formulated to quantify the level of degradation normalized with respect to the relevant experimental parameters. Experimental results show that the existence of Hg, Si, Zn and NH₃ in the coal syngas does not significantly affect the performance of the Ni-YSZ anode. The presence of Cd and Se in the syngas impacts the SOFC anode performance to some extent. Impurity species such as Cl, Sb, As, and P cause severe cell voltage degradation due to attack on the Ni-YSZ anode. Sb, As and P have the potential to react with Ni to form secondary phases in the Ni-YSZ anode, which deteriorate the catalytic activity of the anode.     

Ni-samaria-doped ceria (Ni-SDC) anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) operating with CO

The performance of nickel-samaria-doped ceria (Ni-SDC) anode-supported cell with CO-CO₂ feed was evaluated. The aim of this work is to examine carbon formation on the Ni-SDC anode when feeding with CO under conditions when carbon deposition is thermodynamically favoured. Electrochemical tests were conducted at intermediate temperatures (550–700 °C) using 20 and 40% CO concentrations. Cell operating with 40% CO at 600–700 °C provided maximum power densities of 239–270 mW cm^?2, 1.5 times smaller than that achieved with humidified H₂. Much lower maximum power densities were attained with 20% CO (50–88 mW cm^?2). Some degradation was observed during the 6 h galvanostatic operation at 0.1 A cm^?2 with 40% CO fuel at 550 °C which is believed due to the accumulation of carbon at the anode. The degradation in cell potential occurred at a rate of 4.5 mV h^?1, but it did not lead to cell collapse. EDX mapping at the cross-section of the anode revealed that carbon formed in the Ni-SDC cell was primarily deposited in the anode section close to the fuel entry point. Carbon was not detected at the electrolyte-anode interface and the middle of the anode, allowing the cell to continue operation with CO fuel without a catastrophic failure.     

High performance of direct methane-fuelled solid oxide fuel cell with samarium modified nickel-based anode

Natural gas is one of the most attractive fuels for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), while the anode activity for methane fuel has a great influence on the performance and stability of SOFC. Samarium is a good catalyst promoter for methane reforming. In this work, samarium is used to modify nickel catalyst, which results in small nickel oxide particles. The SmNi-YSZ (yttria-stabilized zirconia) anode has smaller particles and better interfacial contact between nickel and YSZ compared with conventional Ni-YSZ anode. The fine structure of SmNi-YSZ anode results in high activity for electrochemical oxidation of hydrogen and low polarization resistance of the cell. The performance of SmNi-YSZ anode cell with humidified methane as fuel is greatly improved, which is similar to that with hydrogen as fuel. The maximum power densities of SmNi-YSZ anode cell are 1.56 W cm⁻² for humidified hydrogen fuel and 1.54 W cm⁻² for humidified methane fuel at 800 °C. The maximum power density is increased by 221% when samarium is used to modify Ni-YSZ anode for humidified methane fuel at 650 °C. High cell performance results in good stability of SmNi-YSZ anode cell and the cell runs stably for more than 600 min for humidified methane fuel.     

Coke formation and performance of an intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cell operating on dimethyl ether fuel

Dimethyl ether (DME) as a fuel of SOFCs is investigated with great attention paid to coke formation over the Ni-YSZ anode. DME is easily decomposed to CH₄, CO and H₂ at temperatures above 700 °C, with total conversion occurring at 850 °C over the Ni-YSZ catalyst. These data suggest that the DME electro-oxidation likely proceeds via an indirect pathway. O₂-TPO analysis, laser Raman spectroscopy and SEM-EDX characterizations demonstrate coke formation over Ni-YSZ, which is obvious and become more prevalent at higher temperatures. The introduction of CO₂ in the fuel gas decreases the CH₄ selectivity and effectively suppresses coke formation above 700 °C. The suppression effect is increasingly apparent at higher temperatures. At 850 °C, the anode still maintains geometric integrity after exposure to DME-CO₂ (1:1, volume ratio) under OCV condition. With DME or DME-CO₂, the fuel cell power output is comparable to results obtained by operating with 3% water humidified hydrogen. No obvious cell degradation from the anode is observed when operating with DME-CO₂, while it is obvious with DME. The introduction of CO₂ may be a good choice to suppress the coke formation when operating on DME; however, the proper selection of operation temperature is of significant importance.     

A solid oxide carbon fuel cell operating on pomelo peel char with high power output

The pomelo peel char (PC) was prepared and used as fuel for solid oxide electrolyte direct carbon fuel cells with nickel‐yttrium stabilized zirconia anode, thin‐film YSZ electrolyte, and La_0.8Sr_0.2MnO₃ cathode. The power densities of fuel cells operating on PC and catalyst‐loaded PC (PCC) fuels achieved 309 and 518 mW cm^?2 at 850°C, respectively, which are among the highest power densities reported in the literature on DCFCs. The PC exhibited superior gasification reactivity than coal char due to its unique reticulated foam carbon structure with a homogeneously distributed inherent catalyst. The stability tests at a current density of 50 mA cm^?2 and 825°C indicate that the cell using PC fuel operated in a more stable manner than that using PCC, and the fuel availabilities for PC and PCC were 47.25% and 34.71%, respectively. The results suggest that PC is a promising solid carbonaceous fuel for solid oxide electrolyte direct carbon fuel cells based on its adequate gasification reactivity and high compatibility with the fuel cells.     

High performance praseodymium nickelate oxide cathode for low temperature solid oxide fuel cell

The praseodymium nickelate oxide Pr₂NiO_4+δ, a mixed conducting oxide with the K₂NiF₄-type structure, was evaluated as cathode for low temperature solid oxide fuel cells (T = 873 K). The electrochemical performance of the cathode has been improved by optimization of the microstructure of the porous cathode combined with the use of a ceria barrier layer in between the cathode and zirconia electrolyte. Both low polarization and ohmic resistances were obtained using Pr₂NiO_4+δ-powders with a median particle size of 0.4 μm, and sintering the screen printed layer at a sintering temperature of about 1353 K for 1 h. These manufacturing conditions resulted in a cathode microstructure with well established connections between the cathode particles and good adhesion of the cathode on the electrolyte. Full-sized anode supported cells have been manufactured using the same process conditions for the Pr₂NiO_4+δ cathode and tested. The best results were obtained when using a dense Ce_0.8Gd_0.2O_1.9 (20CGO) barrier layer. While a complete optimization of the cell preparation has not yet been achieved, the electrochemical performances of anode supported cells with Pr₂NiO_4+δ are higher than those with the well known state-of-the-art La_0.6Sr_0.4Fe_0.8Co_0.2O_3−δ (LSFC) material.     

Application of biochar derived from used cigarette filters in direct carbon solid oxide fuel cell

As a typical waste, used cigarette filters (UCFs) are difficult to biodegrade and harmful to the environment. The direct carbon solid oxide fuel cell (DC-SOFC) is an energy conversion device that can utilize carbon directly, including biochar, as fuel. We report a superior DC-SOFC powered by Fe-loaded UCF biochar in this paper. The microstructure and composition are characterized, indicating that the UCF biochar is micron-sized and contains metal elements such as K and Ca that are beneficial to the performance of DC-SOFC. The peak power density of the cell fueled by pure UCF biochar is 308 mW cm^?2 and increases to 341 mW cm^?2 after loading Fe as the catalyst, which is comparable to that of the cell with Fe-loaded activated carbon (368 mW cm^?2). It proves the feasibility of the UCF biochar as fuel for DC-SOFCs, providing a theoretical basis and technical demonstration for the disposal and transformation of solid waste.     

Effects of physical properties and operating parameters on numerically developed flat-tube solid oxide fuel cell performance

Fuel cells are promising as a clean energy conversion device in the era of global warming threat. Solid oxide fuel cells stand out among other fuel cell types because they are especially feasible for high-temperature applications. Besides the operating parameters, which are frequently encountered problems in SOFCs, physical parameters also directly affect cell performance. For this reason, careful examination of the effects of the parameters while designing the SOFC will contribute to the increase of the maximum power to be provided from the cell in applications. In this study, a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) created in flat-tube geometry is numerically modeled. The effect of the electrode and electrolyte layers on the performance is investigated parametrically on the created geometry. In addition, the effect of temperature on cell power is investigated comparatively by making analyzes at different temperatures for each case. In the analyzes, performance values are investigated for electrode layer thicknesses of 0.75 mm, 0.5 mm, and 0.25 mm, and electrolyte layer thicknesses of 1.25 mm, 1 mm, and 0.75 mm, respectively. As a result of the study, the highest cell power is obtained at 0.25 mm of the anode layer thickness. The maximum predicted average cell power of the flat tubular solid oxide fuel cell (FT-SOFC) is approximately 68.2 mW/cm² for the operating temperature of 1273 K. In the study, the effect of electrolyte conductivity on the performance of the developed cell is also investigated. It is observed that the cell with a conductivity value of 100 S/m at 1073 K operating temperature has the best performance. In addition, in the last part of the study, the performance of SOFC under non-uniform operating temperature conditions is also examined and a comparison is made for this situation, which is frequently experienced in practice. The results show that small changes in fuel cell operating temperature affect the cell performance in positive and negative directions depending on the increasing and decreasing temperature values.     

Performance of solid oxide fuel cell with chemical looping gasification products as fuel

Chemical looping gasification (CLG) can achieve the utilization of solid fuels for syngas production. The CLG system integrated with solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is a promising energy conversion way. In this work, an integration system of CLG and SOFC is evaluated via the implementation of a multi-field coupling modelling, where the products from the CLG are directly transported into the SOFC as the fuel and the coke deposition effect on the cell performance is evaluated. The results reveal that SOFC temperature using pure hydrogen as fuel has an increase of around 4 K compared to that with gas mixture as fuel owing to the inhibition of carbon deposition. It is found that the arrangement of anode and cathode in the countercurrent mode can promote the overall uniformity of current density compared to that in the cocurrent flow. Moreover, the impact of operating parameter of the CLG system on the SOFC performance is also examined. The results demonstrate that the increase of fuel reactor (FR) temperature and H₂O/C molar ratio in the CLG system is beneficial to the inhibition of carbon deposition and the enhancement of the SOFC performance.     

Effects of coal syngas major compositions on Ni/YSZ anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells

This paper presents a systematical evaluation of the effects of CO₂, H₂O, CO, N₂ and CH₄ in the coal syngas on the properties of typical Ni/YSZ anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). The results show that CO₂, H₂O, CO, N₂ and CH₄ have complicated effects on the cell performance and the electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS) analysis reveals the addition of these gases influences electrode processes such as the oxygen ion exchange from YSZ to anode TPBs, the charge transfer at the anode TPBs, gas diffusion and conversion at the anode. Two kinds of mixture gases with different compositions are thus constituted and used as fuel for aging test on two cells at 750 °C. No degradation or carbon deposition is observed for the cell fueled with 40% H₂-20% CO-20% H₂O-20% CO₂ for 360 h while the cell fueled with 50% H₂-30% CO-10% H₂O-10% CO₂ exhibits an abrupt degradation after 50 h due to the severe carbon deposition.     

Effect of various coal contaminants on the performance of solid oxide fuel cells: Part I. Accelerated testing

The contaminants that are potentially present in the coal-derived gas stream and their thermochemical nature are discussed. Accelerated testing was carried out on Ni-YSZ/YSZ/LSM solid oxide fuel cells (YSZ: yttria stabilized zirconia and LSM: lanthanum strontium manganese oxide) for eight main kind of contaminants: CH₃Cl, HCl, As, P, Zn, Hg, Cd and Sb at the temperature range of 750-850 °C. The As and P species, at 10 and 35 ppm, respectively, resulted in severe power density degradation at temperatures 800 °C and below. SEM and EDX analysis indicated that As attacked the Ni region of the anode surface and the Ni current collector, caused the break of the current collector and the eventual cell failure at 800 °C. The phosphorous containing species were found in the bulk of the anode, they were segregated and formed “grain boundary” like phases separating large Ni patches. These species are presumably nickel phosphide/phosphate and zirconia phosphate, which could break the Ni network for electron transport and inhibit the YSZ network for oxygen ion transport. The presence of 40 ppm CH₃Cl and 5 ppm Cd only affected the cell power density at above 800 °C and Cd caused significant performance loss. Whereas the presence of 9 ppm Zn, 7 ppm Hg and 8 ppm Sb only degraded the cell power density by less than 1% during the 100 h test in the temperature range of 750-850 °C.     

Integration of underground coal gasification with a solid oxide fuel cell system for clean coal utilization

Underground coal gasification (UCG) is a promising clean coal technology. Typically, the syngas obtained from UCG is used for power generation via the steam turbine route. In the present paper, we consider UCG as a hydrogen generator and investigate the possibility of coupling it with a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) to generate electrical power directly. We show, through analysis, that integration with SOFC gives two specific advantages. Firstly, because of the high operating temperature of the SOFC, its anode exhaust can be used to produce steam required for the operation of UCG as well as for the reforming of the syngas for the SOFC. Secondly, the SOFC serves as a selective absorber of oxygen from air which paves the way for an efficient system of a carbon-neutral electrical power generation from underground coal. Thermodynamic analysis of the integrated system shows considerable improvement in the net thermal efficiency over that of a conventional combined cycle plant.     

Three-dimensional modeling of pressure effect on operating characteristics and performance of solid oxide fuel cell

A three-dimensional (3-D) model for planar, anode-supported, solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is developed to investigate the effect of operating pressure on cell characteristics. The results show that the elevated operating pressure can improve cell performance by increasing open circuit voltage and reducing activation overpotential, and enhance the electrochemical reaction in the vicinity of electrolyte. Besides, the high pressure can also change the distributions of species and internal reforming reactions. Compared to the case using syngas as fuel, the operating pressure has more significant effects on temperature gradient along flow direction when partly pre-reformed gas is supplied. In addition, efficient control of cell temperature could be achieved by decreasing fuel utilization in the case of partly pre-reformed gas, but this is achieved at the expense of cell efficiency, especially under high pressure condition. Another way to reduce the temperature gradient is to adopt higher air ratio. Moreover, when partly pre-reformed gas is used, the counter-flow configuration has a better performance due to the higher overall temperature.     

Performance improvement of a direct carbon solid oxide fuel cell via strontium-catalyzed carbon gasification

As a new way of power generation, direct carbon solid oxide fuel cells (DC-SOFCs) exhibit great potential in solution of energy crisis and environmental pollution. According to the working principle, the cell operation is a kinetically controlled process, and the reverse Boudouard reaction is the rate-determining step of the whole system. In this study, a Sr-based catalyst is successfully introduced to accelerate carbon gasification and thus enhance cell performance of DC-SOFCs. The electrochemical performance of DC-SOFCs operated on coconut active charcoal with various Sr loading contents (3 wt%–10 wt%), are studied and compared with that of DC-SOFCs with traditional Fe-catalyzed carbon fuel. Experimental results demonstrate that the best output of 316 mW cm⁻² is achieved from the single cell powered with 5 wt% Sr-loaded coconut active charcoal at 850 °C, higher than those of DC-SOFCs fueled by pure and 5 wt% Fe-loaded active charcoal. The superiority of the Sr-based catalyst is also demonstrated by the operation stability of the corresponding DC-SOFC, which displays a relatively long operation time of 22.68 h at 0.25 A cm⁻² with the fuel utilization of 18.3%. The SEM/EDX results indicate that the Sr-based catalyst exhibits good stability without agglomeration during cell operation at high temperature. In addition, the carbon gasification mechanism catalyzed by Sr-based catalyst is also proposed on the basis of these properties. This study indicates that the designed Sr-loaded coconut active charcoal is expected to be an alternative carbon fuel for DC-SOFCs.     

Simulation of hydrogen and coal gas fueled flat-tubular solid oxide fuel cell (FT-SOFC)

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are considered an important technology in terms of high efficiency and clean energy generation. Flat-tubular solid oxide fuel cell (FT-SOFC) which is a combination of tubular and planar cell geometries stands out with its performance values and low costs. In this study, the performance of an FT-SOFC is analyzed numerically by using finite element method-based design as a result of changing parameters by using different fuels which are pure hydrogen and coal gas with various proportions of CO. In addition, cell performance values for different temperatures were analyzed and interpreted. Analyzes have been performed by using COMSOL Multiphysics software. The rates of CO composition used are 10%, 20%, and 40%, respectively. In addition, the air was used as the oxidizer in all cases. The cell voltage and average cell power of the FT-SOFC were examined under the 800 °C operating condition. The maximum power value and current density value were obtained as 710 W/m² and 1420 A/m² for the flat-tubular cell, respectively. As a result of the study, it was observed that the maximum cell power densities increased with increasing temperature. Analysis results showed that FT-SOFCs have suitable properties for different fuel usage and different operating temperatures. High-performance values and design features in different operating conditions are expected to make FT-SOFC the focus of many studies in the future.     

Thermodynamic modeling of an integrated biomass gasification and solid oxide fuel cell system

An integrated process of biomass gasification and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) is investigated using energy and exergy analyses. The performance of the system is assessed by calculating several parameters such as electrical efficiency, combined heat and power efficiency, power to heat ratio, exergy destruction ratio, and exergy efficiency. A performance comparison of power systems for different gasification agents is given by thermodynamic analysis. Exergy analysis is applied to investigate exergy destruction in components in the power systems. When using oxygen-enriched air as gasification agent, the gasifier reactor causes the greatest exergy destruction. About 29% of the chemical energy of the biomass is converted into net electric power, while about 17% of it is used to for producing hot water for district heating purposes. The total exergy efficiency of combined heat and power is 29%. For the case in which steam as the gasification agent, the highest exergy destruction lies in the air preheater due to the great temperature difference between the hot and cold side. The net electrical efficiency is about 40%. The exergy combined heat and power efficiency is above 36%, which is higher than that when air or oxygen-enriched air as gasification agent.     

Effect of operating parameters on performance of an integrated biomass gasifier,solid oxide fuel cells and micro gas turbine system

An integrated power system of biomass gasification with solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and micro gas turbine has been investigated by thermodynamic model. A zero-dimensional electrochemical model of SOFC and one-dimensional chemical kinetics model of downdraft biomass gasifier have been developed to analyze overall performance of the power system. Effects of various parameters such as moisture content in biomass, equivalence ratio and mass flow rate of dry biomass on the overall performance of system have been studied by energy analysis.It is found that char in the biomass tends to be converted with decreasing of moisture content and increasing of equivalence ratio due to higher temperature in reduction zone of gasifier. Electric and combined heat and power efficiencies of the power system increase with decreasing of moisture content and increasing of equivalence ratio, the electrical efficiency of this system could reach a level of approximately 56%.Regarding entire conversion of char in gasifier and acceptable electrical efficiency above 45%, operating condition in this study is suggested to be in the range of moisture content less than 0.2, equivalence ratio more than 0.46 and mass flow rate of biomass less than 20  kg h⁻¹.