SOFC fuelled by methane without coking: optimization of electrochemical performance

Abstract

In recent years, fuel cell technology has attracted considerable attention from several fields of scientific research as fuel cells produce electric energy with high efficiency, emit little noise, and are non-polluting. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are particularly important for stationary applications due to their high operating temperature (1,073–1,273 K). Methane appears to be a fuel of great interest for SOFC systems because it can be directly converted into hydrogen by direct internal reforming (DIR) within the SOFC anode. Unfortunately, internal steam reforming in SOFC leads to inhomogeneous temperature distributions which can result in mechanical failure of the cermet anode. Moreover this concept requires a large amount of steam in the fed gas. To avoid these problems, gradual internal reforming (GIR) can be used. GIR is based on local coupling between steam reforming and hydrogen oxidation. The steam required for the reforming reaction is obtained by the hydrogen oxidation. However, with GIR, Boudouard and cracking reactions can involve a risk of carbon formation. To cope with carbon formation a new cell configuration of SOFC electrolyte support was studied. This configuration combined a catalyst layer (0.1%Ir–CeO2) with a classical anode, allowing GIR without coking. In order to optimise the process a SOFC model has been developed, using the CFD-Ace+ software package, and including a thin electrolyte. The impact of a thin electrolyte on previous conclusions has been assessed. As predicted, electrochemical performances are higher and carbon formation is always avoided. However a sharp decrease in the electrochemical performances appears at high current densities due to steam clogging.