Direct Utilization of Methane in Microtubular-SOFC

Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is receiving increased interest as a
fuel for trucks. This is also an ideal fuel for SOFC. The work
presented here is part of a project utilising LNG in microtubular
SOFC (mSOFC) in a truck APU application and the issues
associated with this fuel. The paper mainly focuses on solving
problems with temperature distribution along and across the
mSOFC cell. The key problem in the proposed system is the
temperature distribution (TD). Despite the good resistance to
thermal shock, the long-term operation with unequal TD can cause
cell damage. The TD was measured along and across the cell
(internally and externally) under different operating conditions. H2
and CH4 were used as fuels in the first instance. CH4 was
converted into syngas using semi-internal catalytic partial
oxidation catalyst (CPOX) located at the entrance of the cell.
Different mixtures of fuel and air and different forms of the
catalyst were tested for the CPOX of hydrocarbons.