TESTING AND PERFORMANCE ANALYSIS OF NASA 5 CM BY 5 CM BI-SUPPORTED SOLID OXIDE ELECTROLYSIS CELLS OPERATED IN BOTH FUEL CELL AND STEAM ELECTROLYSIS MODES
A series of 5 cm by 5 cm bi-supported Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOEC) were produced by NASA for the Idaho National Laboratory (INL) and tested under the INL High Temperature Steam Electrolysis program. The results from the experimental demonstration of cell operation for both hydrogen production and operation as fuel cells is presented. An overview of the cell technology, test apparatus and performance analysis is also provided. The INL High Temperature Steam Electrolysis laboratory has developed significant test infrastructure in support of single cell and stack performance analyses. An overview of the single cell test apparatus is presented. The test data presented in this paper is representative of a first batch of NASA's prototypic 5 cm by 5 cm SOEC single cells. Clearly a significant relationship between the operational current density and cell degradation rate is evident. While the performance of these cells was lower than anticipated, in-house testing at NASA Glenn has yielded significantly higher performance and lower degradation rates with subsequent production batches of cells. Current post-test microstructure analyses of the cells tested at INL will be published in a future paper. Modification to cell compositions and cell reduction techniques will be altered in the next series of cells to be delivered to INL with the aim to decrease the cell degradation rate while allowing for higher operational current densities to be sustained. Results from the testing of new batches of single cells will be presented in a future paper.
- Research Organization:
- Idaho National Lab. (INL), Idaho Falls, ID (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- DOE - NE
- DOE Contract Number:
- DE-AC07-05ID14517
- OSTI ID:
- 1034824
- Report Number(s):
- INL/CON-11-22242; TRN: US1201056
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ASME 2011 International Congress and Exposition,Denver, CO,11/11/2011,11/17/2011
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
21 SPECIFIC NUCLEAR REACTORS AND ASSOCIATED PLANTS
30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
CURRENT DENSITY
ELECTROLYSIS
FUEL CELLS
HYDROGEN PRODUCTION
IDAHO NATIONAL LABORATORY
MICROSTRUCTURE
MODIFICATIONS
NASA
OXIDES
PERFORMANCE
PRODUCTION
STEAM
TESTING
high temperature electrolysis
hydrogen production
nuclear energy
solid oxide electrolysis cells