A Thermodynamic Comparison of Dead-End Anode SOFC Systems with Various Fuels

Abstract

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are known for their fuel flexibility and high energy conversion efficiency. Hydrogen is one of the ideal fuels for SOFC; however, a SOFC system fueled with pure hydrogen or ammonia always underperforms in comparison to those fueled with hydrocarbon fuels. This paper deals with thermodynamic analyses of novel dead-end anode (DEA) SOFC systems. Particularly, the impact of fuel types on the system’s efficiency is systematically studied with hydrogen, ammonia, methanol, ethanol, dimethyl ether (DME) and natural gas. The comparison shows that the energy and exergy efficiencies of dead end anode SOFC fed with ammonia can be close to that of natural gas.