Performance characterization of metal-supported solid-oxide fuel cell stacks at elevated pressure

Abstract

In this paper, we present results on performance characterization of solid-oxide fuel cell stacks at elevated pressures up to 6 bara. Stacks are designed and built by Ceres Power, Ltd., and are rated at 1- and 5- kWe. Fuel streams include H2/N2 mixtures, synthetic natural-gas reformate, and simulated anode tail-gas recycle. Elevated operating pressure serves to increase stack electrochemical performance, with the most-pronounced gains found up to 4 bara. Pressurized operation reduces the extent of methane conversion, promoting more-uniform internal reforming and cooling within the stack. Such cooling is critical at higher-current conditions. A previously developed one-dimensional computational stack model is used to provide insight into stack operation. Pressurization is found to slightly increase internal thermal gradients, while promoting more-uniform reactant-concentration profiles across the cell, reducing the likelihood of local fuel starvation. The high fuel dilution brought by anode recycle can modestly decrease stack performance; however, this decrease is recovered through elevated-pressure operation at 3 bara. Anode recycle further promotes compositional uniformity across the cell. These results reflect that pressurized operation can promote stack performance, while potentially promoting long-term stack durability through uniformity in stack environmental conditions.