The performance of syngas-fueled solid oxide fuel cell predicted by a Reduced Order Model (ROM): Pressurization and flow-pattern effects

The present computational study investigates the effects of pressure and flow patterns on the electrochemical performance of a repeating unit in the anode-support SOFC stack using a reduced order model previously developed. A unique feature of the present study is that the charge, heat, and mass transport affecting the cell performance has been coupled with the temperature field. The focus of this study is to simulate how the flow patterns and operating pressure in conjunction with temperature field coupling impact the electrochemical performance and chemical reactions within syngas-fueled SOFCs. The simulation results show that the benefits of pressure on power performance do not increase linearly, but with a tapering of performance at higher pressure ranges. This indicates that an intermediate pressure operation may offer a balance between increased performance but higher cost in pressurized systems. The counter-flow design yields a narrower temperature gradient than the co-flow design across the stack, thus leading to a better overall performance. The simulations also find that pressurization significantly promotes the CO direct electro-oxidation and reverse water gas shift reaction simultaneously, thus resulting in higher power density.