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

We have recently demonstrated that high power densities can be achieved for SOFC using liquid hydrocarbon fuels 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 I SBIR project is to demonstrate a stable, high power density operation of this catalyst-assisted SOFC using JP-8 surrogate fuel. The proposed work will include modifications /improvements to the current catalyst, as well as tests of both single cells and multi-cell array. Detailed modelling and experimental measurements will be combined to better understand the interplay between mass transport, charge transport, catalytic reactions, and electrochemical reactions in complex multi-layer anode/catalyst structures.