Development of molten-carbonate fuel-cell power plant. Quarterly technical progress report, May 1, 1981-July 31, 1981

Technical Report · Fri Oct 30 00:00:00 EST 1981

OSTI ID:5270314

The major objective of the program for development of a coal-fired molten carbonate fuel cell power plant is to establish and demonstrate readiness for fabrication and test of full-scale prototype stacks. Progress is reported on three program tasks. Under Task 1.0, cost estimates of the four candidate power plant designs were completed by the program participants. Under Task 2.0, the examination of electrode reaction mechanisms has identified a limiting current on gold and nickel wires in a stagnant melt which is a linear function of the concentration of available hydrogen to the wires. Evaluation of corrosion-resistant materials has identified a new alloy, IN 690, which has shown significant corrosion resistance in both the anode and the cathode gas environment. In addition, chromium-coated stainless steel shows superior corrosion resistance in an anode gas atmosphere; however, it does not appear to offer corresponding protection on the cathode side. In advanced component development, a layer of SrTiO/sub 3/ powder plated with Ni has been sintered to a layer of Ni-10Cr to form a bubble pressure barrier anode. Also, curling and cracking problems of 4 in. x 4 in. cathodes formed out-of-cell were solved. In another area, the spray-drying processing conditions and raw materials were varied in an effort to improve LiA10/sub 2/ morphology and phase distributions. Only partial success was achieved in that high ..beta..-phase content LiA10/sub 2/ was produced but with lower than desired surface areas. Temperature mapping studies were performed on 4 in. x 4 in. bench-scale cells to identify performance sensitivity to temperature gradients. Lastly, in commercial-sized component work, temperature variations that caused density variations in the first 50 in. x 50 in. tile were eliminated by rearrangement of mold heaters. (WHK)

• Research Organization: General Electric Co., Schenectady, NY (USA). Energy Systems Programs Dept.
• DOE Contract Number: AC02-80ET17019
• OSTI ID: 5270314
• Report Number(s): DOE/ET/17019-6; ON: DE82015585
• Resource Relation: Other Information: Portions of document are illegible
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
FUEL CELL POWER PLANTS
COST
DESIGN
MOLTEN CARBONATE FUEL CELLS
PERFORMANCE TESTING
CORROSION RESISTANCE
ELECTROCHEMISTRY
ELECTRODES
MATERIALS
NICKEL
RESEARCH PROGRAMS
STAINLESS STEELS
TEST FACILITIES
ALLOYS
CHEMISTRY
CHROMIUM ALLOYS
CORROSION RESISTANT ALLOYS
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
ELEMENTS
FUEL CELLS
HIGH-TEMPERATURE FUEL CELLS
IRON ALLOYS
IRON BASE ALLOYS
METALS
POWER PLANTS
STEELS
TESTING
TRANSITION ELEMENTS
300501* - Fuel Cells- Design & Development
300502 - Fuel Cells- Performance & Testing