Investigation of Performance of Reformate Fuels on SOFC Anodes

Abstract

Solid oxide fuel cells are highly efficient electricity producing systems. This thesis examines the characteristic of the resulting carbon accumulation on the solid oxide fuel cell anode from reformate fuels. The two reformate fuels examined are based on the steam reforming of natural gas and diesel. The solid oxide fuel cell anodes tested are the standard Ni/YSZ anode and the standard Ni/YSZ anode impregnated with 5% barium oxide. The response of the anodes to the fuel was characterized using cyclic voltammetry, electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, temperature-programmed oxidation and scanning electron microscopy.

The power curves of the diesel and natural gas reformate were largely similar to each other when compared to the performance in dry hydrogen. Changes in fuel did lead to changes in the amount and type of accumulated carbon. The natural gas reformate fuel as a whole accumulated less carbon than the diesel reformate.