Sulfur Tolerant Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) Stack

In this proposed SBIR project, NexTech Materials will design, develop and demonstrate a 10-kW scale, power dense and sulfur tolerant solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack for military ground vehicle auxiliary power units. NexTech has already established a conceptual design for this stack, which incorporates sulfur tolerant anode technology. This conceptual design will provide the starting point for the project. In Phase I, comprehensive modeling will be performed to optimize the stack design with respect to volume and weight, pressure drops, reactant flow distribution and thermal gradients. Assumptions used for stack modeling will be validated by short-stack testing. In the Phase I Option, NexTech will manufacture and/or procure components required for building stacks of the targeted design. In Phase II, NexTech will build and test stacks of the targeted design to confirm compliance to all specifications, including tolerance to a minimum of 50 ppm H2S in reformate fuel, and will deliver a validated 10-kW stack to the Army for testing and evaluation. Successful execution of this project will results in a significant improvement in simplicity, reliability and size of SOFC-based power systems.