A novel fluidized-bed-electrode solid-oxide-fuel-cell reactor for N2O catalytic decomposition

Abstract

Global warming potential (GWP) of N2O is 310 times that of CO2. However, conventional solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) cathode catalytic N2O decomposition has been observed to have a low conversion rate, leading to uneven temperature distribution on the cathode surface. To address this issue, we proposed a novel gas–solid phase fluidized bed catalytic electrode for N2O decomposition in a SOFC system. The fluidized bed material was prepared using cerium oxide particles coated with lanthanum, strontium, and iron (CeO2-LSF). The N2O conversion rate was 99.78% at 720 °C. By assisting particle fluidization with argon, compared to the case of fixed bed electrode, the peak power density improved by a maximum of 39.86% at 670 °C. This improvement was due to mass transfer enhancement by particle fluidization, thereby reducing the concentration polarization of the SOFC. Furthermore, the maximum temperature difference inside the reactor decreased significantly from 92 °C to 42 °C when the cathode particles were fluidized. The reactor can achieve high-efficiency decomposition of N2O while simultaneously improving fuel cell power density and operational reliability.