A novel micro-solid oxide fuel cell (µ-SOFC) for detecting methane content in biogas

Abstract

A novel micro-solid oxide fuel cell (µ-SOFC), with a rectangular saw-tooth shape, was designed with a 50 wt% BYCF + 50 wt% GDC10 cathode and a 60 wt% NiO + 40 wt% GDC10 anode deposited on a GDC10 electrolyte substrate by the spray pyrolysis technique. µ-SOFC receives methane only (CH4) as fuel gas from one side. The fuel gas was applied at a flow rate of 0.2 l min-1. The power density obtained was 1.0 µW at 800°C. Voltage levels generated by the µ-SOFC at 40-99.99% CH4 was highly accurate representing the quantity of CH4. Low accuracy was observed at 10-30% of CH4. Therefore, µ-SOFC is an application of SOFC technology to be a sensor for economically detecting CH4 in a biogas system, while being capable of operating in humid conditions at high temperatures.