• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.377-383
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• 2017

This paper presents the performance characteristics of a 1 kW solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack under various internal reforming and fuel utilization conditions. The Research Institute of Industrial Science & Technology (RIST) developed the 9-cell stack using a $20{\times}20cm^2$ anode supported planar cell with an active area of $324cm^2$. In this work, current-voltage characteristic test, fuel utilization test, continuous operation, and internal reforming test were carried out sequentially for 765 hours at a furnace temperature of $700^{\circ}C$. The influence of fuel utilization and internal reforming on the stack performance was analyzed. When the 1 kW stack was tested at a current of 145.8 A with a corresponding fuel utilization of 50-70% (internal reforming of 50%) and air utilization of 27%, the stack power was approximately 1.062-1.079 kW. Under continuous operation conditions, performance degradation rate was 2.16%/kh for 664 hours. The internal reforming characteristics of the stack were measured at a current of 145.8. A with a corresponding fuel utilization of 60-75%(internal reforming of 50-80%) and air utilization of 27%. As fuel utilization and internal reforming ratio increased, the stack power was decreased. The stack power change due to the internal reforming ratio difference was decreased with increasing fuel utilization.

• Transactions of the Korean Society of Mechanical Engineers B
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• v.31 no.5
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• pp.473-481
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• 2007

Compared to other types of fuel cells, SOFC has advantages like a wide output range and the direct use of hydrocarbon fuel without the process of external reforming. Particularly because the direct use of fuel without reforming reaction is closely linked to overall system efficiency, it is a very attractive advantage. We tried the operation with methane. However, although methane has a small number of carbons compared to other hydrocarbon fuels, our experiment found the deposition of carbon on the surface of the SOFC electrode. To overcome the problem, we tried the operation through activating internal reforming. The reason that internal reforming was possible was that SOFC runs at high temperature compared to other fuel cells and its electrode is made of Ni, which functions as a catalyst favorable for steam reforming.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.52 no.5
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• pp.325-330
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• 2015

Performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), in comparison with that under hydrogen fuel, were investigated under direct internal reforming conditions. Anode supported cells were fabricated with an Ni+YSZ anode, YSZ electrolyte, and LSM+YSZ cathode for the present work. Measurements of I-V curves and impedance were conducted with S/C (steam to carbon) ratio of ~ 2 at $800^{\circ}C$. The outlet gas was analyzed using gas chromatography under open circuit condition; the methane conversion rate was calculated and found to be ~ 90% in the case of low flow rate of methane and steam. Power density values were comparable for both cases (hydrogen fuel and internal steam reforming of methane), and in the latter case the cell performance was improved, with a decrease in the flow rate of methane with steam, because of the higher conversion rate. The present work indicates that the short-term performance of SOFCs with conventional Ni+YSZ anodes, in comparison with that under hydrogen fuel, is acceptable under internal reforming condition with the optimized fuel flow rate and S/C ratio.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.53 no.5
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• pp.483-488
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• 2016

Anode supported solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), consisting of Ni+YSZ anode, YSZ electrolyte, and LSM+YSZ cathode, were fabricated and constant current tested with direct internal reforming of methane (steam to carbon ratio ~ 2) as well as hydrogen fuel at $800^{\circ}C$. The cell, operated under direct internal reforming conditions, showed relatively rapid degradation (~ 1.6 % voltage drop) for 95 h; the cells with hydrogen fuel operated stably for 170 h. Power density and impedance spectra were also measured before and after the tests, and post-test analyses were conducted on the anode parts using SEM / EDS. The results indicate that the performance degradation of the cell operated with internal reforming can be attributed to carbon depositions on the anode, which increase the resistance against anode gas transport and deactivate the Ni catalyst. Thus, the present study shows that direct internal reforming SOFCs cannot be stably operated even under the condition of S/C ratio of ~ 2, probably due to non-uniform mixture (methane and steam) gas flow.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.24 no.5
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• pp.401-412
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• 2013

The paper is to study on the simulation of the micro/macroscale thermo-electrochemical model of a single cell of anode-supported SOFC with direct internal reforming. The coupled heat and mass transport, electrochemical and reforming reactions, and fluid flow were simultaneously simulated based on mass, energy, charge conservation. The micro/macroscale model first calculates the detailed electrochemical and direct internal reforming processes in porous electrodes based on the comprehensive microscale model and then solve the macroscale processes such as heat and mass transport, and fluid flow in SOFCs with assumption of fully-developed flow in gas channel. The simulation results evaluate the overall performance by analyzing distributions of mole fraction, current density, temperature and microstructural design in co/counter flow configurations.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.05a
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• pp.9-12
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• 2008

The internal reforming of n-Butane on Ni-YSZ and Cu-Ceria-YSZ was investigated with anode granule at steam to carbon ratio from 0 to 3 and at temperature of $750^{\circ}C$. Although hydrogen production was lager at Ni-YSZ, resistivity for carbon deposition was better at Cu-Ceria-YSZ. These phenomena occur because unwanted side reaction go on with reforming reaction for hydrogen production at Ni-YSZ.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.33 no.4
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• pp.363-371
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• 2022

In this study, the operation characteristics of the internal reforming type molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) were studied using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis according to the steam to carbon ratio (S/C ratio), operating temperature, and gas utilization. From the simulation results, the distribution of gas composition due to the electrochemical reaction and the reforming reaction was predicted. The internal reforming type showed a lower temperature difference than the external reforming type MCFC. As the operating temperature decreased, less hydrogen was produced and the performance of the fuel cell also decreased. As the gas utilization rate decreased, more gas was injected into the same reaction area, and thus the performance of the fuel cell increased.

• 한국전기화학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2001.06a
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• pp.243-248
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• 2001

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.22 no.2
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• pp.226-236
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• 2013

The heat distribution and internal flow from the efficiency of actual reformer and specification variation, using the computer simulation and experiment about the steam methane reforming reaction which uses the high temperature reformer. Reaction model from steam refoemer uses the steam response model developed by Xu & Froment.As result we supposed the chemical react Steam Reforming(SR), Water Gas Shift(WGS), and Direct Steam Reforming(DSR) from the inner high temperature reformer dominates the response has dissimilar response. According to result of steam methane reforming reaction exam using high temperature reformer, we figured out when Steam Carbon Ratio(SCR) increase, number of hydrogen yield increases but methane decreases. When comparing and examining between design with one inlet and two inlet, result came out one inlet design is more outstanding at thermal distribution and internal flow, hydrogen yield in one inlet design than two inlet design.

• Korean Journal of Air-Conditioning and Refrigeration Engineering
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• v.16 no.11
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• pp.1021-1027
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• 2004

Design performances of various configurations of hybrid systems combining an atmospheric pressure molten carbonate fuel cell and a gas turbine have been analyzed. Two different fuel reforming methods (internal and external reforming) were considered. Influences of turbine inflow heating method, location of fuel combustor and associated component arrangements were investigated. In general, internal reforming leads to higher system efficiencies. The optimum design pressure ratio varies among different system configurations. In particular, the design point selection is closely related to the allowable turbine inlet temperature. Configurations with direct heating of turbine inlet flow may realize both higher efficiency and higher specific power than those with indirect heating.