Internal Reforming Natural Gas Fueled Carbonate Fuel Cell Stack

摘要

The attractive features of an internal reforming natural gas fueled molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) for efficient electricity generation have been established by several studies. ERC has already established feasibility of internal reforming in laboratory-scale (10-sq cm) cells followed by a successful scale-up to bench-scale (300-sq cm) cells. The present experimental study investigated two major areas: (a) improvement in the fuel cell component durability by lowering its temperature, and (b) development and testing of internal reforming catalyst configurations suitable for a multi-cell stack operation. The experimental results indicate that by lowering the cell temperature, it is feasible to increase the durability of fuel cell components at least by two-fold. Also, by re-adjusting the cell design, the temperature effects on the cell performance can be minimized. The results of the present study show that a lower temperature internal reforming MCFC not only offers a potentially more economic alternative for an efficient generation of electricity using natural gas, but also promises an early commercialization of this attractive technology.