Carbon monoxide-fueled solid oxide fuel cell

• Published in: Journal of power sources 2010-10, Vol.195 (19), p.6367-6372
• Main Authors: Homel, Michael, Gür, Turgut M., Koh, Joon Ho, Virkar, Anil V.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Applied sciences; Carbon; Carbon dioxide; Carbon monoxide; CO fuel; CO oxidation; Density; Deposition; Direct energy conversion and energy accumulation; Drying; Electrical engineering. Electrical power engineering; Electrical power engineering; Electrochemical conversion: primary and secondary batteries, fuel cells; Energy; Energy. Thermal use of fuels; Equipments for energy generation and conversion: thermal, electrical, mechanical energy, etc; Exact sciences and technology; Fuel cells; Fuels; Ni cermet anode support; Power generation; Solid oxide fuel cell; Solid oxide fuel cells; Yttria stabilized zirconia
• ISSN: 0378-7753; 1873-2755
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2010.04.020

This study explored CO as a primary fuel in anode-supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) of both tubular and planar geometries. Tubular single cells with active areas of 24 cm 2 generated power up to 16 W. Open circuit voltages for various CO/CO 2 mixture compositions agreed well with the expected values. In flowing dry CO, power densities up to 0.67 W cm −2 were achieved at 1 A cm −2 and 850 °C. This performance compared well with 0.74 W cm −2 measured for pure H 2 in the same cell and under the same operating conditions. Performance stability of tubular cells was investigated by long-term testing in flowing CO during which no carbon deposition was observed. At a constant current of 9.96 A (or, 0.414 A cm −2) power output remained unchanged over 375 h of continuous operation at 850 °C. In addition, a 50-cell planar SOFC stack was operated at 800 °C on 95% CO (balance CO 2), which generated 1176 W of total power at a power density of 224 mW cm −2. The results demonstrate that CO is a viable primary fuel for SOFCs.