Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) provides an efficient and clean pathway to generate electricity. In addition to hydrogen, SOFCs also hold the possibility for the utilization of a variety of carbon containing fuels. A practical kilowatt-class SOFC system fueled by methane has been preliminarily integrated previously. This study intended to obtain the optimized working conditions for the pre-reformer, with which the SOFC module can exhibit higher electrical performance. Detailed thermodynamic analysis and experimental measurements of steam methane reforming (SMR) were carried out under different steam to carbon ratios (S/C) and temperatures, where the experimental results matched well with the thermodynamic calculation. Based on the optimized working condition of SMR, the electrical performance and stability of a planar single-layer stack (10×10 cm2) fueled by the reformate syngas was evaluated. The maximum electrical efficiency reached 65.39% (LHV) at 750ºC, and 50-hour stable operation under 50% (LHV) electrical efficiency was achieved.
Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs) provides an efficient and clean pathway to generate electricity. In this study, two system configurations with anode off-gas recirculation are introduced, and corresponding process models are developed using MATLAB. The study examines the effects of two key parameters, namely system methane utilization and recirculation ratio, on system characteristics, based on the typical performance of a 30-cell stack. Suitable operating parameter ranges are selected for both system configurations, and their respective characteristics are compared. The results demonstrate that D#1 system configuration improves system fuel utilization from 76.6% to 83.0% without altering the operating conditions of the stack. D#2 system configuration achieves a fuel utilization of 88.6%. The results indicate the potential for further enhancing the electrical efficiency while maintaining the output power and operation stability. This study provides valuable insights for the design and parameter selection of practical systems in future research.
Methanol generally needs a steam reforming process before being used in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). This paper calculated and tested the composition of methanol reforming gas under different steam-to-carbon ratio (S/C ratio) and temperature. Results show that when the temperature is between 720°C and 820°C, experiment results are almost consistent with calculation results. When the temperature is around 620°C, a significant deviation exists between the experiment and calculation results, indicating that methanol conversion is incomplete. When the S/C ratio needs to be higher than 1.2 due to the equipment's limit, the appropriate reaction condition is 725°C and S/C ratio of 1.2. Methanol reforming gas under this condition was tested on a commercial SOFC. The peak power is 39.31W under 750°C and 46.97W under 800°C. The highest electrical efficiency reaches 52.4% when fuel utilization is 80%. These results provide a research basis for the future application of methanol in SOFCs.
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