Direct Utilization of Methane in Microtubular-SOFC

Abstract

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is receiving increased interest as a fuel for trucks. This is also an ideal fuel for SOFC. The work presented here is part of a project utilising LNG in microtubular SOFC (mSOFC) in a truck APU application and the issues associated with this fuel. The paper mainly focuses on solving problems with temperature distribution along and across the mSOFC cell. The key problem in the proposed system is the temperature distribution (TD). Despite the good resistance to thermal shock, the long-term operation with unequal TD can cause cell damage. The TD was measured along and across the cell (internally and externally) under different operating conditions. H2 and CH4 were used as fuels in the first instance. CH4 was converted into syngas using semi-internal catalytic partial oxidation catalyst (CPOX) located at the entrance of the cell. Different mixtures of fuel and air and different forms of the catalyst were tested for the CPOX of hydrocarbons.