• 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• 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 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.

• 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.

• 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.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.652-659
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• 1999

The trend of poisoning of reforming catalyst along with the position of anodic catalyst bed was studied. Keeping the conditions that steam to carbon ratio was 2.5, operating voltage was 0.75 V, current density was $140mA/cm^2$, the unit cell was operated during 24 hrs at a steady state. And then the cell was stopped, the catalysts packed in the position of inlet, middle and outlet were sampled individually and then the amount of carbon, Li and K poisoned were analysed. After 100 hrs operated, the catalysts at the same positions were analysed at the same manner. The result of this experiment was as followings. After 24 hrs operated, the poisoning amounts of Li and K in the catalyst were 0.27 wt% at inlet, 0.23 wt% at middle and the highest value 1.59 wt% at outlet. After 100 hrs, the amount of poisoning is the highest in the catalyst packed at the inlet of unit cell. The performance simulation of unit cell explained these trends of poisoning catalysts. The simulation told that the catalyst in the region of the inlet of unit cell treated the 90% of initial methane flow rate and the highest electrochemical reaction happened in this region. So the catalysts of this region were the most poisoned with carbon, Li and K and also the rate of poisoning is faster than that of the catalyst at other regions. The temperature at the region of outlet of unit cell was $30^{\circ}C$ higher than that of other regions, so more Li, and K vaporized than at other regions and little reforming reaction at this region made the catalysts poisoning rate low.

• Clean Technology
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• v.26 no.4
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• pp.329-335
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• 2020

Methanol synthesized from renewable hydrogen and captured CO2 has recently attracted great interest as a sustainable energy carrier for large-scale renewable energy storage. In this study, molten carbonate fuel cell's performance was investigated with the direct conversion of methanol into syngas inside the anode chamber of the cell. The internal reforming of methanol may significantly improve system efficiency since the heat generated from the electrochemical reaction can be used directly for the endothermic reforming reaction. The porous Ni-10 wt%Cr anode was sufficient for the methanol steam reforming reaction under the fuel cell operating condition. The direct supply of methanol into the anode chamber resulted in somewhat lower cell performance, especially at high current density. Recycling of the product gas into the anode gas inlet significantly improved the cell performance. The analysis based on material balance revealed that, with increasing current density and gas recycling ratio, the methanol steam reforming reaction rate likewise increased. A methanol conversion more significant than 90% was achieved with gas recycling. The results showed the feasibility of electricity and syngas co-production using the molten carbonate fuel cell. Further research is needed to optimize the fuel cell operating conditions for simultaneous production of electricity and syngas, considering both material and energy balances in the fuel cell.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.10 no.5
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• pp.754-760
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• 1999

The properties of the catalyst for a direct internal reforming type molten carbonate fuel cell were examined by ICP, BET, CHN, EDS, and $H_2$ chemisorption. Potassium and lithium, the components of carbonate electrolyte, were transported to the catalyst during the operation of fuel cell, and the amounts of the deposited alkali elements were reduced in the order of inlet, outlet, and the middle. From the direct correlation between the amount of alkali and the physical properties such as BET surface area and Ni dispersion, and from the observation of the lump of the alkali species on the poisoned catalyst, it was confirmed that the physical blocking of the catalyst by alkali deposition was the main reason for the deactivation. Although the amount of alkali species was greater at the inlet than at the oulet, the catalyst sampled from the outlet had lower activity. This was caused by the chemical interaction between the alkali species and the catalyst at the outlet where temperature was highest in the cell body, which was detected by FT-IR analyses.