Effect of Various Coal Types on Reverse Boudoard Reaction in the fuel electrode of a Direct Carbon Fuel Cell

摘要

DCFC systems, acknowledged as a sort of anode modification of conventional molten carbonate or solid oxide fuel cells, are based on electrochemical reactions (ECR) for making electricity, and thus chemical reactions are mostly not desired. Reverse Boudoard Reaction (RBR) is one of these types of chemical reactions, which is active at elevated temperatures in the cell (higher than 700 °C): C + CO2 <==> 2 CO One of the main issues of RBR in DCFC systems is the use of solid fuels in an unfavorable direction that does not generate electrons. In some references, carbon monoxide, the product of the RBR, can be used as another gaseous fuel that can increase the ECR kinetics: CO + CO3~(-2) → 2CO2 + 2e~- Hence, when using coals that can release gaseous volatiles, there are indeed many electrochemical /chemical reaction pathways in which the volatiles are participated. Thus, it is no surprise that there are many coal-related factors: ash components, alkaline ratio, the percentage of volatile and its species, surface area and the diameter of pores.