Carbon deposition in an SOFC fueled by tar-laden biomass gas: a thermodynamic analysis

This work presents a thermodynamic analysis of the carbon deposition in a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) fueled by a biomass gasifier. Integrated biomass-SOFC units offer considerable benefits in terms of efficiency and fewer emissions. SOFC-based power plants can achieve a system efficiency of 70-80% (including heat utilization) as compared to 30-37% for conventional systems. The fuel from the biomass gasifier can contain considerable amounts of tars depending on the type of gasifier used. These tars can lead to the deposition of carbon at the anode side of SOFCs and affect the performance of the fuel cells. This paper thermodynamically studies the risk of carbon deposition due to the tars present in the feed stream and the effect various parameters like current density, steam, and temperature have on carbon deposition. Since tar is a complex mixture of aromatics, it is represented by a mixture of toluene, naphthalene, phenol, and pyrene. A total of 32 species are considered for the thermodynamic analysis, which is done by the Gibbs energy minimization technique. The carbon deposition is shown to decrease with an increase in current density and becomes zero after a critical current density. Steam in the feed stream also decreases the amount of carbon deposition. With the increase in temperature the amount of carbon first decreases and then increases.