Abstract
Anode off-gas of high temperature fuel cell still contains combustible components such as hydrogen, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon. In this study, a catalytic combustor has been applied to the high temperature fuel cell so that the combustion of anode-off gas can be boosted up. Since the performance of catalytic combustor directly depends on the combustion catalyst, this study is designed to perform the experimental investigation on the combustion characteristics of the three commercial catalysts with a different composition. Screening tests with three catalysts are preceded before the performance examination since it is necessary to determine the most suitable catalyst for design configuration of the catalytic combustor. The performance analysis shows that methane conversion rate strongly depends on gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) as well as inlet gas temperature. Additionally, the GSHV optimization results show that the optimum GHSV will be in the range between 18,000 $hr^{-1}$ and 36,000 $hr^{-1}$. It is also shown that the minimum inlet temperature of catalytic reaction of methane is from $100^{\circ}C$ to $150^{\circ}C$.