Oxidation of ash-free coal in a direct carbon fuel cell

Lee, Choong-Gon; Kim, Won-Ki

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.01.068

Cited by 21 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 24 publications

(37 reference statements)

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“…Power densities achieved with these fuels were 70, 110, 80 and 40 mW/cm 2 respectively. SRI International had been quite active for this type of technology and has tested solid carbon fuels mixed with salt powders [32]. Fig.…”

Section: R E T R a C T E D R E T R A C T E D R E T R A C T E D R E T mentioning

confidence: 99%

Progress and Challenges in the Direct Carbon Fuel Cell Technology

Chen

Gao

Long

et al. 2015

ILCPA

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Fuel cells are under development for a range of applications for transport, stationary and portable power appliances. Fuel cell technology has advanced to the stage where commercial field trials for both transport and stationary applications are in progress. Direct Carbon Fuel Cells (DCFC) utilize solid carbon as the fuel and have historically attracted less investment than other types of gas or liquid fed fuel cells. However, volatility in gas and oil commodity prices and the increasing concern about the environmental impact of burning heavy fossil fuels for power generation has led to DCFCs gaining more attention within the global study community. A DCFC converts the chemical energy in solid carbon directly into electricity through its direct electrochemical oxidation. The fuel utilization can be almost 100% as the fuel feed and product gases are distinct phases and thus can be easily separated. This is not the case with other fuel cell types for which the fuel utilization within the cell is typically limited to below 85%. The theoretical efficiency is also high, around 100%. The combination of these two factors, lead to the projected electric efficiency of DCFC approaching 80% -approximately twice the efficiency of current generation coal fired power plants, thus leading to a 50% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. The amount of CO 2 for storage/sequestration is also halved. Moreover, the exit gas is an almost pure CO 2 stream, requiring little or no gas separation before compression for sequestration. Therefore, the energy and cost penalties to capture the CO 2 will also be significantly less than for other technologies. Furthermore, a variety of abundant fuels such as coal, coke, tar, biomass and organic waste can be used. Despite these advantages, the technology is at an early stage of development requiring solutions to many complex challenges related to materials degradation, fuel delivery, reaction kinetics, stack fabrication and system design, before it can be considered for commercialization. This paper, following a brief introduction to other fuel cells, reviews in detail the current status of the direct carbon fuel cell technology, recent progress, technical challenges and discusses the future of the technology.

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Section: R E T R a C T E D R E T R A C T E D R E T R A C T E D R E T mentioning

confidence: 99%

Progress and Challenges in the Direct Carbon Fuel Cell Technology

Chen

Gao

Long

et al. 2015

ILCPA

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“…The direct utilization of various solid carbonaceous materials as fuels is the most distinctive feature of DCFC. Some solid carbon fuels, like graphite, carbon black [16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23] and different types of coal fuel [24][25][26][27][28][29] have been used in various DCFC configurations.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of molten carbonate-based direct carbon fuel cells

Cui

Gong

et al. 2021

Mater Renew Sustain Energy

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Direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) is a promising technology with high energy efficiency and abundant fuel. To date, a variety of DCFC configurations have been investigated, with molten hydroxide, molten carbonate or oxides being used as the electrolyte. Recently, there has been particular interest in DCFC with molten carbonate involved. The molten carbonate is either an electrolyte or a catalyst in different cell structures. In this review, we consider carbonate as the clue to discuss the function of carbonate in DCFCs, and start the paper by outlining the developments in terms of molten carbonate (MC)-based DCFC and its electrochemical oxidation processes. Thereafter, the composite electrolyte merging solid carbonate and mixed ionic–electronic conductors (MIEC) are discussed. Hybrid DCFC (HDCFCs ) combining molten carbonate and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) are also touched on. The primary function of carbonate (i.e., facilitating ion transfer and expanding the triple-phase boundaries) in these systems, is then discussed in detail. Finally, some issues are identified and a future outlook outlined, including a corrosion attack of cell components, reactions using inorganic salt from fuel ash, and wetting with carbon fuels.

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“…In DCFCs the chemical energy contained in solid fuels is directly transformed to electricity at high efficiencies and low environmental impact [3][4][5][6][7]. Various solid fuels have been examined in DCFCs including, among others, various coal types, activated carbon, biomass, chars and organic wastes [8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The synergistic catalyst-carbonates effect on the direct bituminous coal fuel cell performance

Kaklidis

Strandbakke

Arenillas

et al. 2019

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy

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The current work explores the feasibility to improve the performance of a Direct Carbon Fuel Cell (DCFC): CO 2 + bituminous coal|Co-CeO 2 /YSZ/Ag|Air by infusing a gasification catalyst (Co/CeO 2) and/or Li-K carbonates mixture into the carbon fuel. The different fuel feedstock mixtures were characterized by various methods, involving chemical composition and proximate analysis, particle size distribution (PSD), X-ray diffraction (XRD), N 2 adsorption-desorption (BET method), thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM), to gain insight into the effect of catalyst and/or carbonates addition to fuel mixture physicochemical characteristics. An increase of the power output up to ca. 20 and 80% is achieved for carbon/catalyst and carbon/catalyst/carbonates mixtures, respectively, in comparison to bare carbon at 700 o C, demonstrating the pronounced effect of catalyst as well as its potential synergy with carbonates. It was also shown that the achieved maximum power density is directly associated with the CO formation rate, implying the importance of in situ formed CO on the electrochemical performance. The obtained findings are further discussed based also on the corresponding AC impedance spectroscopy studies, which revealed the beneficial effect of fuel feedstock additives (catalyst and/or carbonates) on ohmic and electrode polarization resistances. The present results clearly revealed the feasibility to improve the DCFC performance by concurrently infusing a gasification catalyst and carbonates mixture into fuel feedstock.

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Oxidation of ash-free coal in a direct carbon fuel cell

Cited by 21 publications

References 24 publications

Progress and Challenges in the Direct Carbon Fuel Cell Technology

Progress and Challenges in the Direct Carbon Fuel Cell Technology

Review of molten carbonate-based direct carbon fuel cells

The synergistic catalyst-carbonates effect on the direct bituminous coal fuel cell performance

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