Abstract
As the demand for green energy with high efficiency and low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has increased, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have been intensively developed in recent years. Integrated gasification fuel cells (IGFCs) in particular show potential for large-scale power generation to further increase system efficiency. Thus, for commercial application of IGFCs, it is important to design reliable multi-stacks for large systems that show long-term stability and practical fuel gas for application to industrial equipment. In this work, a test rig (of a 5 kW SOFC system, with syngas from industrial gasifiers as fuel) was fabricated and subjected to long-term tests under high fuel utilization to investigate its performance. The maximum steady output power of the system was 5700 W using hydrogen and 5660 W using syngas and the maximum steady electrical efficiency was 61.24% while the fuel utilization efficiency was 89.25%. The test lasted for more than 500 h as the fuel utilization efficiency was larger than 83%. The performances of each stack tower were almost identical at both the initial stage and after long-term operation. After 500 h operation, the performances of the stack towers decreased only slightly under lower current and showed almost no change under high current. These results demonstrate the reliability of the multi-stack design and the prospect of this SOFC power-generation system for further enlarging its application in a MWth demonstration.
Highlights
As the demand for green energy with high efficiency and low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has increased, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have become an attractive technology (Choudhury et al 2013) The advantages of such cells include the fact that a variety of fuels and electrolyte materials can be used and they show high electrical efficiency, full utility of heat and quiet operation (SecanellYinchuan 750411, China et al 2011)
After 500 h operation, the performances of the stack towers decreased only slightly under lower current and showed almost no change under high current. These results demonstrate the reliability of the multi-stack design and the prospect of this Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) power-generation system for further enlarging its application in a MWth demonstration
Most studies on SOFCs have focused on materials for the development of the anode, electrolyte and cathode as well as performance tests (Hossain et al 2017; Radenahmad et al 2016)
Summary
As the demand for green energy with high efficiency and low carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions has increased, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have become an attractive technology (Choudhury et al 2013) The advantages of such cells include the fact that a variety of fuels and electrolyte materials can be used and they show high electrical efficiency, full utility of heat and quiet operation Fang et al conducted durability tests and investigated degradation behavior of a 2.5 kW SOFC stack with internal reforming of LNG (Fang et al 2013). The long-term durability of such stacks should be tested, as most research has used simulated gas. To address these issues, in this study, we fabricated a test rig (of a 5 kW SOFC system, with syngas from industrial gasifiers as fuel) to explore the feasibility of a MW class IGFC. A long-term test using industrial syngas under high fuel utilization was conducted to investigate the influence of syngas on the performance of the stacks
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
