Open AccessEffect of Coal Contaminants on Solid Oxide Fuel System Performance and Service Life
Author(s) -
Gopala Krishnan,
Palitha Jayaweera,
Jianrong Bao,
J.M. Perez,
K. H. Lau,
Marc D. Hornbostel,
Angel Sanjurjo,
John Albritton,
Rahul Gupta
Publication year - 2008
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
DOI - 10.2172/957507
Subject(s) - coal , waste management , environmental science , fossil fuel , natural gas , contamination , coal gasification , coal gas , wood gas generator , solid oxide fuel cell , molten carbonate fuel cell , clean coal , chemistry , anode , engineering , ecology , biology , electrode
The U.S. Department of Energy's SECA program envisions the development of high-efficiency, low-emission, CO{sub 2} sequestration-ready, and fuel-flexible technology to produce electricity from fossil fuels. One such technology is the integrated gasification-solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) that produces electricity from the gas stream of a coal gasifier. SOFCs have high fuel-to-electricity conversion efficiency, environmental compatibility (low NO{sub x} production), and modularity. Naturally occurring coal has many impurities and some of these impurities end in the fuel gas stream either as a vapor or in the form of fine particulate matter. Establishing the tolerance limits of SOFCs for contaminants in the coal-derived gas will allow proper design of the fuel feed system that will not catastrophically damage the SOFC or allow long-term cumulative degradation. The anodes of Ni-cermet-based SOFCs are vulnerable to degradation in the presence of contaminants that are expected to be present in a coal-derived fuel gas stream. Whereas the effects of some contaminants such as H{sub 2}S, NH{sub 3} and HCl have been studied, the effects of other contaminants such as As, P, and Hg have not been ascertained. The primary objective of this study was to determine the sensitivity of the performance of solid oxide fuel cells to trace level contaminants present in a coal-derived gas stream in the temperature range 700 to 900 C. The results were used to assess catastrophic damage risk and long-term cumulative effects of the trace contaminants on the lifetime expectancy of SOFC systems fed with coal-derived gas streams