Performance analysis of Cu, Sn and Rh impregnated NiO/CGO91 anode for butane internal reforming SOFC at intermediate temperature

In this work, the performance of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) consisting of Cu, Sn and Rh impregnated NiO/CGO91 anode is investigated for butane internal reforming mode at an intermediate temperature (600 °C). Steam reforming activities of Ni and Ce0.9Gd0.1O2 (CGO91) and Ni and Y0.08Zr0.92O2 (8YSZ) are tested as anode materials of internal reforming SOFC. In butane steam reforming, NiO/CGO91 shows better performance than NiO/8YSZ. However, butane is incomplete converted over NiO/CGO91 even if the gas hourly space velocity is very low. Cu, Sn and Rh are added to the NiO/CGO91 materials to increase the conversion of butane. Among the additives, the Rh is the most effective, resulting in 100% of butane conversion and no carbon deposition. Moreover, Rh added NiO/CGO91 SOFC single cell have a very low degradation rate when the SOFC sing cell is operated in internal reforming mode using butane.