Start-up and operation characteristics of a flame fuel cell unit

Yuqing Wang, Hongyu Zeng, Tianyu Cao, Yixiang Shi, Ningsheng Cai, Xiaofeng Ye and Shaorong Wang

Applied Energy, 2016, vol. 178, issue C, 415-421

Abstract: This work aims to investigate a black start-up process for micro cogeneration (combined heat and power, CHP) systems based on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). A novel micro-CHP system concept using a flame fuel cell (FFC) for start-up is proposed. An FFC unit is experimentally implemented and studied by integrating a porous media burner with a micro-tubular SOFC. The FFC is demonstrated to start up within seconds with the fuel-rich combustion of a methane-air mixture. The porous media burner acts as a non-catalytic fuel processor for the SOFC with a maximum methane reforming efficiency of 49%. The flame fuel cell performance is tested for various equivalence ratios at a fixed inlet gas velocity of 0.15m/s. The power reaches a significant value of 1.5W at 0.7V with a single fuel cell when operating with a fuel-rich flame at the equivalence ratio of 1.6. A flame fuel cell unit with multi-cell configurations has the potential to provide heat and power simultaneously for micro-CHP systems during the start-up process without an external energy source.

Keywords: Flame fuel cell; Black start-up; Combined heat and power; Micro-tubular SOFC; Porous media burner (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (13)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:appene:v:178:y:2016:i:c:p:415-421

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DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2016.06.067

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