Modeling of transport, chemical and electrochemical phenomena in a cathode-supported SOFC

Abstract This paper investigates the performance of a planar cathode-supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with composite electrodes using a detailed numerical model. The methane reforming reaction is included in the model and takes place mostly in the porous, thin anode at the high operating temperature of 800– 1000 ∘ C . A single computational domain comprises the fuel and air channels and the electrodes–electrolyte assembly eliminating the need for internal boundary conditions. The equations governing transport and chemical and electrochemical processes for mass, momentum, chemical and charged species and energy are solved using Star-CD augmented by subroutines written in-house. The operating cell voltage is determined by the potential difference between the cathode and the anode, whose potentials are fixed. Results of temperature, chemical species, current density and electric potential distribution for a co-flow configuration are shown and discussed. It is found that the sub-cooling effect observed in anode-supported cells is almost ameliorated, making the cathode-supported cell favorable from the viewpoint of material stability.

[1]  Andrei G. Fedorov,et al.  Spectral Radiative Heat Transfer Analysis of the Planar SOFC , 2005 .

[2]  Xiongwen Zhang,et al.  Numerical study on electric characteristics of solid oxide fuel cells , 2007 .

[3]  Tohru Kato,et al.  Numerical analysis of output characteristics of tubular SOFC with internal reformer , 2001 .

[4]  Guilan Wang,et al.  3-D model of thermo-fluid and electrochemical for planar SOFC , 2007 .

[5]  Kyle J. Daun,et al.  Radiation heat transfer in planar SOFC electrolytes , 2006 .

[6]  D. Dong,et al.  High-performance cathode-supported SOFCs prepared by a single-step co-firing process , 2008 .

[7]  Eric Croiset,et al.  Mechanistic modelling of a cathode-supported tubular solid oxide fuel cell , 2006 .

[8]  Nigel P. Brandon,et al.  High performance cathode-supported SOFC with perovskite anode operating in weakly humidified hydrogen and methane , 2007 .

[9]  I. Yasuda,et al.  3-D model calculation for planar SOFC , 2001 .

[10]  Ellen Ivers-Tiffée,et al.  Oxidation of H2, CO and methane in SOFCs with Ni/YSZ-cermet anodes , 2002 .

[11]  Yoshitaka Inui,et al.  Three dimensional analysis of planar solid oxide fuel cell stack considering radiation , 2007 .

[12]  Ayodeji Jeje,et al.  3D modeling of anode-supported planar SOFC with internal reforming of methane , 2007 .

[13]  L. D. Jonghe,et al.  Catalyst-infiltrated supporting cathode for thin-film SOFCs , 2005 .

[14]  Vinod M. Janardhanan,et al.  Modeling Elementary Heterogeneous Chemistry and Electrochemistry in Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells , 2005 .

[15]  Alex C. Hoffmann,et al.  Numerical analysis of a planar anode-supported SOFC with composite electrodes , 2009 .

[16]  Alex C. Hoffmann,et al.  Numerical modeling of solid oxide fuel cells , 2008 .

[17]  Xin-jian Zhu,et al.  Two-dimensional dynamic simulation of a direct internal reforming solid oxide fuel cell , 2007 .

[18]  Yann Bultel,et al.  Modeling of a SOFC fuelled by methane: From direct internal reforming to gradual internal reforming , 2007 .

[19]  D. Jeon,et al.  A comprehensive micro-scale model for transport and reaction in intermediate temperature solid oxide fuel cells , 2006 .

[20]  Mogens Bjerg Mogensen,et al.  Reaction of CO/CO2 gas mixtures on Ni–YSZ cermet electrodes , 1999 .

[21]  Vinod M. Janardhanan,et al.  Numerical study of mass and heat transport in solid-oxide fuel cells running on humidified methane , 2007 .

[22]  R. Kee,et al.  Modeling Distributed Charge-Transfer Processes in SOFC Membrane Electrode Assemblies , 2008 .

[23]  A. Chaisantikulwat,et al.  Dynamic modelling and control of planar anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell , 2008, Comput. Chem. Eng..