A Performance Analysis of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) Stack

摘要

Molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) offer a clean and efficient route for power generation from coal gas and other fuels. A mono-cell with the effective electrode area of 140 X 240mm~2 and a stack consisting of 8 cells are assembled using the components of electrodes (including cathode and anode), matrix, and electrolyte (carbonate sheet) prepared by ourselves. The mono-cell output at different temperatures and effect of thermal cycle times on its performance are investigated. By comparing power density between the mono-cell and the stack at the same operating condition, it could be concluded that the gas flow-field of bipolar plates was reasonable. In the case of ambient pressure and 650℃, the power density of the stack fed with air and hydrogen as oxidant and fuel gas at current density 130mA·cm~(-2) reaches to 0.1 w·cm~(-2), and the stack gives about 280 watts output at its peak time. After 6 times of thermal cycles, the mono-cell still keeps a relatively high output. The experimental results show that the MCFC stack achieves good characters and has some tolerance to thermal cycle.