2012 Volume 37 Issue 1 Pages 16-19
A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system can offer high efficiency. Moreover, it is a rather simple process in comparison to polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC) system. The fuel processor for PEFC needs water-gas shift (WGS) and preferential oxidation (PROX) processes to remove CO that poisons the Pt anode. In contrast, SOFC does not need CO removing processes because it can use CO as a fuel source. Generally, there are three types of reactions to generate hydrogen from hydrocarbon for fuel cell, steam reforming (SR), partial oxidation (POx), and autothermal reforming (ATR, combined SR and POx reaction). SR or ATR is effective to achieve high electrical efficiency because it can balance the heat between the heat required for the endothermic reaction of reforming reaction in reformer and the heat produced by fuel cell generation. At the start-up, the exothermic reaction such as POx or ATR is useful for heating the reformer. In this paper, the features of SOFC type residential fuel cell system in comparison to PEFC type residential fuel cell system and the reforming technology used for SO FC system are explained.
