Design and Fabrication of Electrolyte-Supported Tubular SOFC Combined with Supercritical Water Oxidation on Biomass Gas

Abstract

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are relatively simple and environmental friendly devices for the production of electricity from hydrocarbons. The use of a high pressure supercritical water (SCW) reactor containing a SOFC has the potential for using a multitude of logistical liquid fuels that would otherwise not be possible in a regular SOFC system. A SOFC-SCW system was designed to allow the anode to be exposed to the pressure and chemical milieu of the supercritical water oxidation reactor. The effects of the amount of water/fuel and oxygen fed into the reactor under SCW conditions at 400°C were studied. The effects on electrochemical performance as well as preliminary results on a number of feed stocks, for example pectin, are also described.