High performance direct flame fuel cell using a propane flame

• Published in: Proceedings of the Combustion Institute Vol. 33; no. 2; pp. 3431 - 3437
• Main Authors: Wang, Kang, Zeng, Pingying, Ahn, Jeongmin
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Inc 2011
• Subjects: Anode-supported SOFC; Anodes; Combustion; Density; Direct flame fuel cell (DFFC); Flow rate; Fuel cells; Fuels; No-chamber fuel cell; Propane; Propane flame; Solid oxide fuel cells; Solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC); Propane flame; Anode-supported SOFC; No-chamber fuel cell; Solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC); Direct flame fuel cell (DFFC)
• ISSN: 1540-7489; 1873-2704
• DOI: 10.1016/j.proci.2010.07.047

This work presents the performance of the direct flame fuel cell based on the anode-supported solid-oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with a propane flame, which serves not only as a fuel reformer but also as a heat source to sustain the fuel cell operation. The anode-supported SOFC was successfully fabricated and showed an extraordinary fuel cell performance of 584
mW/cm
2 by using a propane flame; far higher than that of the electrolyte-supported SOFC. The total flow rates of premixed propane–air greatly influenced the range of fuel cell operation and fuel cell performance. With the fixed flow rate of propane, the introduction of an air flow exhibited a complex effect on the peak power density and the maximum current density due to the variation of fuel cell temperature and fuel concentration.