The equation for the cathode gas can be written similarly. State of the art in the world fuel cell systems based on mcfc technology are under development in italy, japan, korea, usa and germany. Molten carbonate fuel cell an overview sciencedirect topics. Fuel consumption and co2 emission reductions of ships powered. Because of hightemperature operation, various fuel gases can be widely used and internal reforming of hydrocarbon fuel is also possible, resulting in improving fuel utilization and providing higher power generation efficiency. Explore scenarios in which the mcfc trigeneration system has particular cost.
Biogas contains methane is considered a potential source of clean renewable energy. This will be cleaner and avoid the pollution of the marine diesel engines which currently provide the power in the vast majority of the worlds ships. Performance of fluidized bed electrode in a molten. The electrode reactions for this electricityproducing molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc are. The investigation was carried out by manufacturing a single cell preliminary facility scpf which. Figure 1 illustrates the process for fuelcell energy fce molten carbonate fuel cells mcfc. Molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc is a hightemperature fuel cell. Pdf applications for molten carbonate fuel cells semantic. The fuelcell energy dfc 300a is a natural gas fueled molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc from which excess heat is recovered for use onsite. Stationary fuel cells based on molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc technology have been under development at fuelcell energy, inc. However, in our fuel cell design, the biomass fuel is merged in molten carbonate.
Operates at extremely high temperatures 1 200 degrees. Shanghai jiao tong university, institute of fuel cells, 800 dongchuan road, shanghai 200240, china. Pdf world congress on study of a molten carbonate fuel cell. It is a hightemperature cell, operating at around 650c and its electrolyte is a mixture of alkali metal carbonates that are solid at room temperature but liquid at the cell operating temperature. Heated to 650 degrees c about 1,200 degrees f, the salts melt and conduct carbonate ions co3 from the cathode to the anode. Moltencarbonate fuel cells mcfcs are hightemperature fuel cells that operate at temperatures of 600 c and above. Unlike the devices being developed for cars, which use pure hydrogen as a fuel, fuelcell energys molten carbonate. Stationary fuel cell power systems with direct fuelcell. The research and development works on molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc are being carried out worldwide as one of the most promising power generation systems for next generation. Manufacturing cost and installed price analysis of.
Direct conversion of carbon fuels in a molten carbonate fuel cell article in journal of the electrochemical society 1521 january 2004 with 157 reads how we measure reads. The high operating temperature is needed to achieve sufficient conductivity of the. Working a molten carbonate mc fuel cell consists of two flow field plates an anode a molten carbonate electrolyte and a cathode hydrogen is directly through channels in the flow field plate and feeds into the anode or negatively charged electrode oxygen and carbondioxide feed into the cathode or positively charged electrode. The electrolyte is molten potassium lithium carbonate, which requires an read more. Molten carbonate fuel cell an overview sciencedirect. Direct conversion of carbon fuels in a molten carbonate fuel cell. The first mcfc was constructed in 1921,but it is developed in the year 1950 by ketelaar and broers. Develop meaningful definitions for cell, stack, electrical, hydrogen production efficiencies in trigeneration modes.
There is a pdf file available on the internet that provides stepbystep. Salts commonly used include lithium carbonate, potassium carbonate and sodium carbonate. Also as a result of their high operating temperatures, mfcfs do not require the fuel be reformed prior to entering the fuel cell. While the working temperature of mcfcs is around 650. Determine the performance and cost benefits of a molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc plant that can coproduce electric power, hydrogen, and heat. The molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc employs a molten mixture of alkali metal. Fuel and air reactions for the molten carbonate direct fuelcell occur at the anode and cathode, which are porous nickel ni catalysts.
Similarly, molten carbonate fuel cells can tolerate high concentrations of carbon monoxide continued on next page. Because molten carbonate fuel cells must operate at temperatures of 650 c, there is no need for precious metals to be used as catalysts. In this paper the results of an onsite experimental analysis carried out on a molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc fed by different fuels hydrogen, landfill gas and different mixtures of them are presented. As can be seen in figure 1, hydrogen is created in the fuel cell stack through a reforming process. The co32 transport needs supply of co2 at the cathode side of the cell which. Development and characterisation of cathode materials for the molten carbonate fuel cell athula wijayasinghe doctoral dissertation department of materials science and engineering royal institute of technology stockholm, sweden 2004. The molten carbonate electrolysis cell mcec provides the opportunity for producing fuel gases, e. And in southern alabama, fuel cell technology is squarely in the spotlight. Molten carbonate fuel cells mcfc are currently being demonstrated in several sites around the world. The cathode side receives oxygen from the surrounding air. Since the 1990s, mcfc systems have been tested in field trials in the range between 40 kwel and 1. Molten carbonate fuel cells mcfcs high temperature cells molten carbonate fuel cells mcfcs are another type of high temperature fuel cell. The molten carbonate fuel cell operates at approximately 650 c 1200 f.
Department of energy office of fossil energy national energy technology laboratory p. In the molten carbonate fuel cell, the electrolyte consists of a molten mixture of potassium carbonate and lithium carbonate to transport carbonate ions from the cathode to the anode. Fc fuel cell fcs fuel cell system fp fuel processor gdc gadoliniadoped ceria gdl gas diffusion layer hdpe high density polyethylene hhv higher heating value ht high temperature kwe kilowatts of electricity lb load bank lhv lower heating value lscf lanthanumstrontiumcobaltferrite lt low temperature mcfc molten carbonate fuel cell. Molten carbonate fuel cells are hightemperature fuel cells that offer significant cost reductions over phosphoric acid fuel cells. A fuel cell cycle employing carbonate ions penetrating a solid matrix electrolyte at high temperatures is schematically illustrated in fig. Pdf international status of molten carbonate fuel cell. Mcfcs, or molten carbonate fuel cells, use carbonate salts of alkali metals as electrolyte. Molten carbonate and phosphoric acid stationary fuel cells. Molten carbonate fuel cells mcfcs were selected as fuel cell systems of a combined power source because the characteristics of mcfcs are suitable for application to ships 22,23. An introduction to fuel cells and hydrogen technology by brian cook, heliocentris vancouver, canada whereas the 19th century was the century of the steam engine and the 20th century was the century of the internal combustion engine, it is likely that the 21st century will be the century of the fuel cell. An overview comparison of fuel cell technologies by the fuel cell technologies office. The results show that it is feasible to run a reversible molten carbonate fuel cell and that the cell actually exhibits lower polarization in the mcec mode, at. The molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc is the most complex of all the modern fuel cells both in terms of its cell reaction and of cell construction. The evaluation of the performance and durability of the molten carbonate cell is a key for developing the electrolysis technology.
The homogeneous model is based on volume averaging of different variables in the three phases over a small volume element. Studies on the modeling calculations of the unit molten carbonate fuel cell 221 korean j. The cell operating temperature is high at 650 c 923 k. Design and modeling of a novel direct carbon molten carbonate fuel cell with porous bed electrodes ritesh agarwal abstract a novel concept has been developed for the direct carbon fuel cell dcfc based on molten carbonate recirculating electrolyte. Status of molten carbonate fuel cell installations fuel cell systems based on mcfc technology are under development in italy, japan, korea, usa and germany. The electrochemical performance of a stateoftheart molten carbonate cell was investigated in both fuel cell mcfc and electrolysis cell mcec modes by using polarization curves and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy eis. Test and quality assurance plan fuelcell energy, inc. Comparison of fuel cell technologies department of energy. Distributed generation suitable for chp increased tolerance to fuel impurities expensive catalysts long startup time sulfur sensitivity. Molten carbonate fuel cells use carbonate salts of alkali metals as electrolyte. For the different fuel cell systems, one important fuel is hydrogen. A simple highperformance matrixfree biomass molten. The most common electrodes are porous nio structure. Direct conversion of carbon fuels in a molten carbonate.
A molten carbonate fuel cell, which makes a separator unnecessary, cuts down the number of components, and markedly reduces the costs, is provided. Development and characterisation of cathode materials for. Moltencarbonate fuel cells mcfcs are hightemperature fuel cells that operate at temperatures of 600 c and above molten carbonate fuel cells mcfcs are currently being developed for natural gas, biogas produced as a result of anaerobic digestion or biomass gasification, and coalbased power plants for electrical utility, industrial, and military applications. Figures 1a 4 and 1b 5 show the relevant quantity of installed mcfc. Introduction mcfcs, or molten carbonate fuel cells, use carb onate salts of alkali metals as electrolyte.
Pdf this chapter is dedicated to the unique fuel cell using a molten salt electrolyte, the molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc. It require carbon dioxide and oxygen to be delivered to the cathode. The technology collaboration programme on the research, development and demonstration on advanced fuel cells advanced fuel cells technology collaboration programme, afc tcp functions within a framework created by the international energy agency iea. An overview of fuel cells currently under development. Molten carbonate cell molten carbona e cell promises high fuel toelectricity efficiency and the ability to utilize coal based fuels it uses an electrolyte composed of a molten carbonate salt mixture. In a molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc, carbonate salts are the electrolyte. The fuel consists of a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide generated from water and a fossil fuel.
C and there are several advantages associated with this. Performance and durability of the molten carbonate. In this thesis, the effect on fuel cell performance of operating a small labscale molten carbonate fuel cell in. This approach can be used to model porous electrodes as it represents the real system much better than the conventional agglomerate. Types of fuel cells department of chemical engineering. Since publication of the first edition of fuel cell systems explained, three compelling drivers have supported the continuing development of fuel cell technology. Studies on the modeling calculations of the unit molten. It is aimed at stationary applications and promises high efficiency. Fehribach abstract in this paper we analyze a planar model for a molten carbonate electrode of a fuel cell.
Molten carbonate fuel cells employ a molten carbonate salt mixture electrolyte which is suspended in a porous chemically inert lithium aluminum oxide ceramic matrix. Molten carbonate fuel cells, when coupled with a turbine, can reach efficiencies approaching 65%, considerably higher than the 37%42% efficiencies of a phosphoric acid fuel cell plant. Such operating conditions are characterized especially by a low co 2. Fluidized bed electrode, molten carbonate fuel cell, anode, polarization, current density introduction the electrode used in a molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc 15 is a porous gasdiffusion electrode which is in the shape of a plate and separated by a ceramic matrix containing electrolyte 68. In the cell, a cathode, an electrolyte plate holding an electrolyte, and an anode are provided concentrically with a tube body, the electrolyte plate is held by the anode, and the electrolyte plate is sandwiched between the anode and the cathode. A molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc is a hightemperature power generator in which, using a ni catalyst, carbonate ion co32. In this kind of cells, the electrolyte is a molten carbonate, usually composed by alkaline metals such as lithium and potassium li 2 co 3 k 2 co 3 or lithium and sodium. Pdf analysis of molten carbonate fuel cell performance. Keywords molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc, poisoning, electrolyte degradation, so 2. Molten carbonate fuel cells electrochemical technologies. There are four primary types of fuel cells that are used for stationary combined heat and power chp applications. Fuel cells of this type operate quite differently from those so far discussed.
At the cathodealso known as the air electrodecarbon dioxide and oxygen are fed to the cell, and they react to. Fce has demonstrated a number of 250kw units operating on. Improved efficiency is another reason mcfcs offer significant cost reductions over phosphoric acid fuel cells. In a molten carbonate fuel cell, carbon is an integral part of the equation. Pdf hightemperature molten carbonate fuel cells are a highly efficient and environmentfriendly source of power generation for commercial and. Molten carbonate fuel cells mcfcs use a molten carbonate salt suspended in a porous ceramic matrix as the electrolyte. It was shown that the fuel cell exhibited lower polarization in mcec mode than in mcfc mode, and a high co 2 concentration at the fuel cell anode reduced the polarization in electrolysis mode, which suggested that co 2 is reduced to produce co or carbonate. The material used for the electrolyte and the design of the supporting structure determine the type and performance of the fuel cell. Pdf world congress on study of a molten carbonate fuel. Fuel cells incorporate an anode and a cathode, with an electrolyte in between, similar to a battery.
The corrosive solution is contained in a solid porous matrix, generally mgo or lialo 2 16. Due to the highly corrosive nature of the electrolyte, various countermeasures are being developed. This technology provides a maximum 250 kw electrical output at 480v three phase in parallel with the utility supply. Collecting the history of molten carbonate fuel cells. The model consists of two coupled secondorder ordinary di erential equations, one for the concentration of the reactant gas and one for the potential. Jan 10, 2011 a new application of molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc has been developed to be eventually used as an alternative power supply for ships.
The typical power size is of several hundreds kws, however, a 40125 kw mcfc system for mid size commercial, industrial and municipal applications was developed by gencell corporation, and multimw systems are going to be demonstrated in europe, usa and japan. A cylindrical small size molten carbonate fuel cell wiley online. Some of the waste heat produced by the fuel cell is. Fce and its predecessor, the energy research corporation, for several decades. A new application of molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc has.
At the anode, hydrogen reacts with the ions to produce water, carbon dioxide, and electrons. In this thesis, the effect on fuel cell performance of operating a small labscale molten carbonate fuel cell in conditions which simulate those that would apply if the fuel cell was used for co 2 separation in combustion flue gas was studied. Molten carbonate fuel cells an overview sciencedirect. Performance of fluidized bed electrode in a molten carbonate. Mcfcs are expected for highefficiency power generation systems using hydrocarbon fuels, such as natural gas and coal gas. Since mcfcs operate at high temperature, the reaction rate is fast, even when using lowcost catalysts, as compared with relatively di erent fuel cell systems. A benefit associated with this high temperature is that. International status of molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc. C ountries around the world are trying to use alternative fuels and renewable energy to reduce the energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. In this study a threephase homogeneous model was developed to simulate the performance of the molten carbonate fuel cell mcfc. Molten carbonate fuel cells an overview sciencedirect topics. Introduction mcfcs, or molten carbonate fuel cells, use molten mixture of carbonate salts.
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