Development of internal reforming molten carbonate fuel cells

Technical Report · Wed May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1991

OSTI ID:5557940

Patel, P S; Paetsch, L M; Maru, H C ^[1]

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1. Energy Research Corp., Danbury, CT (USA)

This final report summarizes the results of technology development for the internal reforming molten carbonate fuel cell stack. The work, performed under EPRI Research Project RP2344-1 by Energy Research Corporation, focused on establishing the feasibility of direct methane feed in multi-cell stacks and developing cost-effective stack technology. Component development and assembly requirements were developed based on the information generated in the cell technology and system analysis programs. These requirements were then translated into stack component specifications and verified in short stack tests. Several subscale (1 ft{sup 2}) short stacks were operated on direct methane feed for up to 3000 hours. Stack designs and start-up procedures incorporating state-of-the-art creep resistant anodes, tape cast matrices and sheetmetal bipolar plates were developed. SS310 has been shown to offer significantly greater corrosion resistance than the baseline SS316. A conceptual design for a full-size stack was developed and verified in a tall stack with 60 subscale cells, the world's tallest stack to date. The fabrication processes for active components were scaled up from 1 ft{sup 2} size to large area (4 ft{sup 2}) components. A 5kW stack of 4 ft{sup 2} size components was built on a parallel PG E project and operated on a methane fuel for 5,000 hours. 15 refs., 64 figs., 17 tabs.

• Research Organization: Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA); Energy Research Corp., Danbury, CT (USA)
• Sponsoring Organization: EPRI; Electric Power Research Inst., Palo Alto, CA (USA)
• OSTI ID: 5557940
• Report Number(s): EPRI-GS-7221s
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
300503* -- Fuel Cells-- Materials
Components
& Auxiliaries
CHEMICAL REACTIONS
COMBUSTION
DESIGN
DIRECT ENERGY CONVERTERS
ELECTROCHEMICAL CELLS
ENERGY SOURCES
FLUIDS
FOSSIL FUELS
FUEL CELLS
FUEL GAS
FUELS
GAS FUELS
GASES
HIGH-TEMPERATURE FUEL CELLS
MOLTEN CARBONATE FUEL CELLS
NATURAL GAS
OXIDATION
PERFORMANCE
STACKS
TESTING
THERMOCHEMICAL PROCESSES