Electrolyte Vaporization Losses from Molten-Carbonate Fuel Cells

摘要

Electrolyte loss by vaporization has been identified as a significant performance-degradation mechanism in molten-carbonate fuel cells. The continuous nature of electrolyte vaporization leads to development of tile porosity, which results in increased cell resistance, gas crossover, and loss of structural integrity. In this paper, electrolyte losses from fuel cells reported by different investigators are reviewed and out-of-cell measurements of vapor loss from carbonate melts performed at IGT are presented. These out-of-cell vapor losses are then compared with vaporization losses determined from fuel cells operated for 10,000 hours. (ERA citation 08:020885)