Modeling Power Production in a Tubular Carbon Fuel Cell

• Main Authors: Johnson, David U., Mitchell, Reginald E., Gür, Turgut M.
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• ISSN: 1938-5862; 1938-6737
• DOI: 10.1149/06101.0235ecst

Carbon fuel cells (CFCs) offer promising technological opportunities for efficient and clean conversion of carbonaceous fuel (coal, biomass, waste, etc.) into electricity. In this study, we report the results of a finite-element model used to predict the performance of a solid oxide-based tubular air carbon fuel cell (ACFC). The comprehensive model couples mass and energy transport with electrochemistry and ion transport, and uses experimentally derived parameters to simulate anode and cathode kinetics as well as carbon bed chemistry. The model is used to map out power density and cell efficiency as a function of bed height, tube spacing and cell voltage. The model results can be used to aid design and operational decisions. As expected, calculations of ACFC performance indicate the typical tradeoff between power density and cell efficiency under both varying geometry as well as varying cell voltage. Calculated results demonstrate that a power density of 170 mW/cm2 can be attained with a cell efficiency in excess of 50%.