Development of 1 kW SOFC power package for dual-fuel operation

A compact SOFC power generation system was developed by integrating a 1 kW SOFC stack and balance-of-plant. The system was designed for dual-fuel operation using both natural gas (NG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). An adiabatic pre-reformer was employed in a fuel processing system to convert C₂₊ hydrocarbons in the fuel into CH₄-rich gas which was further processed in a main reformer to produce H₂-rich gas for the SOFC stack. The SOFC system was operated for 350 h under thermally self-sustaining condition, and on-load fuel switching from NG to LPG was carried out during the operation. The system performance was not significantly affected by NG/LPG composition ratios and the performance was stable during continuous operation in NG or LPG.