Proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry as a rapid inline tool for filter efficiency of activated charcoal in support of the development of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells fueled with biogas

•Measurement technique for simultaneous monitoring of several filters•Several SOFC pollutants were simultaneously quantified mainly on sulfur compounds.•Single and double filter setups were considered.•The sulfur compound covapor effects via breakthrough times were estimated.

Efficient power technologies such as high temperature fuel cells demand ultra-low concentrations of contaminants in the fuel feed e.g. < 1 ppm(v), imposing stringent requirements on fuel clean-up technology. Proton transfer reaction-mass spectrometry (PTR-MS), being fast and suitable to measure ultra-low concentrations can be an optimal tool for the characterization of clean-up methods. It is exploited here for the simultaneous measurement of breakthrough curves of biogas filters loaded with a mix of compounds that simulate biogas pollutants. The sorbent materials are able to efficiently remove propanethiol and butanethiol and to a lesser degree methanethiol and hydrogen sulfide. Carbon disulfide and dimethylsulfide were the compounds that elute from the filters. These results support the development of set-ups for the cleaning of real biogas from the Organic Fraction of Municipal Solid Waste (OFMSW) and its use for Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) feeding.

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