The Effect of Trace Coal Syngas Species on the Performance of a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell
- Ohio University, Athens, OH
Presently coal is the United States’ most economical fossil fuel and given the vast reserves the fuel will be used for years to come for power generation. However, with ever increasing scrutiny over coal fired power plant emissions, more efficient and cleaner power production processes are being sought. Gasification technology, along with new cleanup and sequestration technologies, allows for the environmentally benign use of coal for power production. High temperature fuel cells, especially solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), represent a technology that may be used to more efficiently and cleanly produce both power and heat using fossil fuels such as coal. The U.S. Department of Energy is currently investing in the development of both gasification and fuel cell technologies. Although SOFC contaminants such as H2S and HCl will be thoroughly cleaned from coal syngas (CSG) by warm gas cleanup (WGC) systems, the effect of trace coal syngas species which may slip through WGC systems has not been previously investigated. A major goal of the National Energy Technology Laboratory is to theoretically and experimentally investigate the effects of such trace coal syngas species in order to further the development of gasification and SOFC technologies for advanced power generation. Thermodynamic calculations were first used to determine which trace CSG species would form volatile compounds through WGC conditions. From this investigation it was concluded that Sb, As, Cd, Pb, Hg, P, and Se will form volatile compounds and potentially interact with the SOFC anode. Further thermodynamic calculations showed that Sb, As, and P could form secondary phases with the Ni contained in the SOFC anode. In order to experimentally determine the effects of these trace CSG species, an experimental test fixture was constructed that allows button cell SOFCs to be tested with a modeled CSG fuel including trace species. The effect of AsH3, PH3, and Hg trace CSG species on the performance of an anode supported SOFC were tested. This paper reports the results from these tests including in-situ electrochemical measurements and post trial material analyses.
- Research Organization:
- National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL), Pittsburgh, PA, Morgantown, WV, and Albany, OR (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE - Office of Fossil Energy (FE)
- DOE Contract Number:
- None cited
- OSTI ID:
- 923739
- Report Number(s):
- DOE/NETL-IR-2007-166
- Resource Relation:
- Conference: ASME 5th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology, New York, NY, June 18-20, 2007
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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