Methane-Oxygen Solid Oxide Fuel Cell System

NASA has a defined need for energy dense and highly efficient energy storage and power delivery systems for future space missions. Compared to other fuel cell technologies, solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) based systems are better suited to meeting NASA's efficiency targets while operating directly on methane and oxygen reactants. SOFC power systems for lunar landers and other exploration vehicles are an ideal application for this technology, as well as for power generation on the moon or on Mars. Nexceris has established SOFC technology that offers high power density and high single-pass fuel utilization, making it uniquely suited for achieving NASA's performance and efficiency requirements. In this project, NexTech will establish a process model for an externally reformed SOFC system that operates with oxygen and methane reactants, design a reformer and a stack for the system, refine the reformer and stack designs via modeling and analysis, validate the design and performance predictions via catalyst and stack testing.