Effect of Coal Gases on Electrochemical Reactions in the Direct Carbon Fuel Cell System

Abstract

Various carbonaceous fuels were evaluated in a Direct Carbon Fuel Cell (DCFC) system as energy sources. In order to investigate the characteristics of electrochemical reaction of various fuels in DCFC, three coals, such as Shenhua coal, Adaro coal, and Openblue coal which have different content of fixed carbon and volatile matter, were selected in this research. The characteristics of electrochemical reactions of fuels were investigated at 700℃ by potentiostatic method of the fuel cell and the effect of fuels properties is also discussed. The effect of gases from coals was investigated by using raw coal state and char state in present work. The gases, such as H2, CH4, CO and CO2, were detected in the exhaust gas of anode side by thermal decomposition of coal. It is confirmed that these gases have an effect on the electrochemical reaction on DCFC system by comparing of current density of raw coal and char