Development of Hydrocarbon-Based Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs)

In the phase I, We have demonstrated that high power densities can be achieved for SOFC using component surrogate fuels like dodecane or Tridecane via direct internal reforming. This approach can provide solutions for the highly power-dense applications required by Air Force (e.g. auxiliary power units for aircraft and unmanned aerial vehicles) and many portable and transportation applications in commercial sector. Because the stack power densities are high, the system can be compact and light-weight. Since there is no external reformer or water tank required (reforming is done with H2O-CO2 recycled from the exhaust), fuel efficiency is potentially higher than other designs, reducing the fuel pay load. In addition, fast system start-up can be accomplished in part using partial oxidation reforming for heating the stack. Addition of a novel catalyst to a conventional SOFC allowed stable operations with liquid hydrocarbon fuels. This approach has an advantage that the catalyst can be ¡°tuned¡± to work with various fuels. The proposed Phase II SBIR project is to demonstrate a stable, high power density operation of this catalyst-assisted SOFC using JP-8 realistic surrogate fuel and other potential sulfur free logistic fuels. Building on from successful demonstration during phase I, The proposed phase II will include optimization to the current materials, cell design as well as demonstration of small internal reforming model stacks. The Detailed modeling and experimental measurements will be combined in both cells and model stack level to better understand the interplay between mass transport, charge transport, catalytic reactions, and electrochemical reactions in complex multi-layer anode/catalyst structures.