DieselSOFC project: a study involving a solid oxide fuel cell fed with diesel

The Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) are electrochemical devices that may find application in stationary as well oversize vehicles such as aircraft or ships. Accordingly, the SOFC systems must demonstrate reliability towards the utilization of conventional heavy hydrocarbon fuels such as the diesel especially for on-board applications. The SOFC has already demonstrated a level of maturity as regards the manufacture of cells having Ni-based anode, stack, and systems. Nowadays, this type of technology is quite far from its use in real environmental conditions in which H2 is not available, although the main manufacture companies have forecasted that the global SOFC market is being to grow of 10.3 % over the period 2014-2019 as reported by TechNavio. Therefore, the main possibility for a rapid penetration of such technology into the market of generators for distributed energy is the utilization of a chemical processor coupled to the SOFC. Diesel is a complex mixture of heavy hydrocarbons; therefore, for a good comprehension of the processes occurring during the transformation of a fuel to energy, a pure and single hydrocarbon molecule simulating a complex fuel is necessary. In these terms, the use of n-dodecane for tests concerning the next use of diesel into the SOFC can give significant information. In this work we explored the reliability and feasibility of a coupled system based on a chemical processor and a SOFC operating at 800 °C. Furthermore, we will report on the development of a 500 Wel system based on a SOFC stack coupled with a reformer of n-dodecane.