KR20160120363A - Direct hydrocarbon fueled solid oxide fuel cells with coking free on-cell reformer - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a solid oxide fuel cell which directly performs internal reforming by using hydrocarbon fuel, the solid oxide fuel cell comprising: a unit cell which includes an anode/electrolyte/cathode structure; and an on-cell reformer which is disposed on a cathode side of the unit cell; wherein the on-cell reformer includes an active material having catalytic capability for hydrocarbon fuel and a lattice oxygen supplier. The on-cell reformer may be integrated with the unit cell, or may be formed in a cell structure which is attached to a cathode chamber side. According to the present invention, high performance of the solid oxide fuel cell can be implemented even when hydrocarbon fuel is directly used, long-term driving stability can be ensured by suppressing carbon poisoning, and an efficient and economical solid oxide fuel cell system without an external reformer can be implemented.

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD [0001] The present invention relates to a direct-hydrocarbon-use solid oxide fuel cell including a carbon adsorption-resistant on-cell reformer,

The present invention relates to a solid oxide fuel cell, and proposes an on-cell reformer for a direct hydrocarbon-use solid oxide fuel cell, which can effectively control the chemical reforming reaction of a hydrocarbon fuel in direct use of the hydrocarbon fuel, thereby enabling stable operation .

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have attracted attention due to their high energy efficiency of over 60%, clean byproducts, and the flexibility of fuel selection. In particular, it is possible to directly reform the hydrocarbon-based fuel due to the high temperature operating temperature and the fuel electrode composed of the transition metal catalyst, thereby making it possible to construct a highly efficient system that simplifies the system configuration. With these advantages, it is possible to expect high economic efficiency and exhaust gas saving effect when constructing high efficiency power generation system by utilizing existing infrastructure.

The fuel electrode, which injects fuel to enable internal reforming, is generally made up of a mixture of nickel metal, stabilized zirconia, and a doped-ceria oxygen ion conductor ceramic material. Nickel is a catalyst that has been used as a catalyst for reforming hydrocarbon fuels such as methane into useful fuel gas (syngas) forms of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. It exhibits excellent catalytic performance and also exhibits excellent catalytic performance as an electrochemical catalyst. , And shows excellent performance in generating electrons by oxidizing the fuel with oxygen ions moved through the electrolyte from the air electrode.

Internal reforming of hydrocarbons in an anode - supported solid oxide fuel cell can be divided into electrochemical oxidation reaction and chemical reforming reaction. In the case of the electrochemical oxidation reaction, since the thickness of the oxygen ions moving from the air electrode is limited, the efficiency of methane utilization is significantly lowered. Therefore, it is necessary to control the reforming reaction in a wide chemical range. Direct use of fuel is possible. In direct hydrocarbon fuel use, a typical chemical reforming method is steam reforming in which steam is supplied together with methane, which can prevent poisoning due to carbon coking which can easily occur on the nickel electrode , It is difficult to maintain a high H ₂ O / C ratio. Therefore, the risk of cell destruction is very high due to the poisoning of the nickel catalyst by the deposited carbon and the oxidation of nickel by the water vapor.

In order to solve these problems, a study was carried out to develop a new catalyst with excellent catalytic activity for hydrocarbons with low adsorption of carbon by using an oxide catalyst such as ceria, perovskite ABO ₃ structure or A'AB'BO ₆ double perovskite Has been attempted. Such attempts may be understood to slow down the decomposition rate of hydrocarbons by reducing the activity of the catalyst to prevent carbon deposition, which is disadvantageous in that the efficiency of the entire solid oxide fuel cell system is lowered when the oxide catalyst is used.

Therefore, there is a need to develop a technique that utilizes nickel, which is the most excellent catalyst, while preventing poisoning of carbon in the chemically modified region to enable stable operation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention was conceived under the technical background described above, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method and apparatus for direct hydrocarbon reforming using solid hydrocarbon fuel cells, which induces an effective chemical reforming reaction in a direct hydrocarbon using solid oxide fuel cell, To suppress.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an on-cell reformer comprising a suitable lattice oxygen supplier capable of oxidizing carbon deposited on a surface to maintain good catalytic performance of the nickel.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a solid oxide fuel cell composed of a fuel electrode active material capable of catalyzing a hydrocarbon fuel, and to develop a direct hydrocarbon used solid oxide fuel cell capable of stable operation.

Other objects and technical features of the present invention will be more specifically described in the following detailed description.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention includes an on-cell reformer comprising a catalytic active material having catalytic activity on a hydrocarbon fuel and a lattice oxygen supplier capable of oxidizing carbon deposited on the surface of the catalyst And a solid oxide fuel cell.

The on-cell reformer may be integrated into a single cell composed of an electrode and an electrolyte, or may be used in the form of an on-cell reformer attached to the inlet of the fuel electrode chamber.

In the case of an on-cell reformer integrated with a unit cell, a metal catalyst having excellent conductivity may be used for securing electrical conductivity, or an additional metal may be included. In the case of an on-cell reformer attached to the anode chamber inlet, electrical conductivity is not essential.

The catalyst of the on-cell reformer may be composed of any metal selected from the group consisting of nickel, ruthenium, rhodium, cobalt, iron, iridium, palladium, and platinum or alloys thereof. The catalyst may further comprise at least one cocatalyst selected from gold, tin, tungsten, molybdenum, magnesium, sodium, and potassium.

As the lattice oxygen supplier of the reformer, a material having an excellent oxygen storage capacity is used. Specifically, there may be mentioned ceria, doped ceria oxide, perovskite oxide, doped perovskite oxide, brown millerite oxide, doped brown millerite, bismuth oxide, stabilized bismuth oxide, ceria-zirconia solid solution oxide, Chromium oxide, and hexagonalcobaltite can be used.

The present invention also provides a solid oxide fuel cell including a unit cell composed of an air electrode / electrolyte / fuel electrode, and an on-cell reformer disposed on the fuel electrode side of the unit cell, The method for operating a solid oxide fuel cell is characterized in that oxygen is directly supplied together with the hydrocarbon fuel.

It is preferred that the amount of oxygen supplied with the hydrocarbon fuel does not exceed the compositional ratio at which the partial oxidation of the hydrocarbons occurs.

When the fuel cell is constructed using the on-cell reformer provided in the present invention, the lattice oxygen supplier of the on-cell reformer and the metal catalyst that effectively reforms the hydrocarbon can be used to operate the stable fuel cell without deterioration due to poisoning It is possible.

In addition, when an on-cell reformer is additionally supplied with oxygen gas, the lattice oxygen ion concentration can be maintained at a high level to improve the long-term stability of the fuel cell, the chemical reforming reaction can be smoothly performed, , It is possible to prevent carbon deposits that may occur in the current collecting metal that extracts the current generated from the fuel cell.

This makes it possible to improve the energy conversion efficiency of the solid oxide fuel cell by directly using the hydrocarbon fuel without an external reformer and to reduce the production cost of the system by constructing a simplified solid oxide fuel cell system.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing a reaction that can occur when a hydrocarbon fuel is directly used in a solid oxide fuel cell. FIG.
Figures 2A and 2B are schematic diagrams of a solid oxide fuel cell equipped with an on-cell reformer of the present invention.
FIGS. 3A and 3B are schematic diagrams of an on-cell reformer-supported solid oxide fuel cell and a general anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell according to an embodiment of the present invention;
4A and 4B are IV characteristic graphs of an on-cell reformer support type and an anode electrode reformer supported solid oxide fuel cell according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a graph showing methane conversion and deposition carbon selectivity of an on-cell reformer support type and an anode support type solid oxide fuel cell according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 6 is a graph of long term performance evaluation of the on-cell reformer-supported solid oxide fuel cell according to an embodiment of the present invention, which is different from the methane feed flow rate.
FIGS. 7A and 7B are graphs and graphs of changes in carbon deposition amount according to methane supply time according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG.
FIGS. 8A to 8C are graphs of IV characteristics, long-term operation test, and polarization resistance change in a long-term operation of a methane + oxygen mixed gas of an on-cell reformer supported solid oxide fuel cell according to an embodiment of the present invention, respectively.

The present invention proposes a solid oxide fuel cell including an on-cell reformer in order to maximize the efficiency of the internal reforming reaction of the hydrocarbon during operation of the solid oxide fuel cell.

FIG. 1 schematically shows the reaction that takes place during the direct use of a hydrocarbon fuel in an anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell which is widely used.

In the electrochemically active region (~ 30 μm), hydrocarbon fuel can be reformed and electrochemically oxidized by the oxygen ions supplied from the air electrode. However, in most of the thick fuel electrodes (> 500 μm) Ions can not be supplied and only a chemical reforming reaction can occur. For this reason, since only decomposition of hydrocarbons occurs in the absence of an oxidizing agent, carbon is easily deposited, poisoning of the metal catalyst occurs, the performance of the battery is rapidly deteriorated, and the cell is destroyed.

The present invention utilizes an on-cell reformer including a lattice oxygen supplier with a metal catalyst in the chemical reaction zone of a solid oxide fuel cell to supply oxygen ions to the metal catalyst, thereby effectively preventing the deposition of carbon.

The catalyst active material may be composed of transition metal catalysts such as nickel, ruthenium, rhodium, cobalt, iron, iridium, palladium, platinum and alloys thereof. In addition, oxidation reaction of the active material can be suppressed by including a promoter such as gold, tin, tungsten, molybdenum, magnesium, sodium, potassium and the like. These promoters can be used in the form of active materials and alloys. In addition, the nanoparticles of the transition metal catalyst constituting the active material may be coated on the anode to inhibit oxidation of the anode.

As a lattice oxygen supplier, a material having excellent oxygen storage capacity is used. Typically, a ceria or doped ceria oxide, a perovskite oxide, or a perovskite A bismuth oxide or a stabilized bismuth oxide may be used in combination with an oxide of a perovskite type oxide, a brown oxide, a brown millerite (ABO _2.5 ) structure and a doped brown millerite. In addition, ceria-zirconia solid solution oxides (Ce _1-x Zr _x O _{2 + δ} ), ceria-chromium oxides (Ce _1-x Cr _x O _{2 + δ} ), hexagonalcobaltite (RBaCo ₄ O _{7 +} Or YBaCo _{4 -} xAl _x O _{7 +}隆), or an oxide having an excellent oxygen storage ability, may be used as a lattice oxygen supplier.

The on-cell reformer composed of the above-described material may be formed into a molded body integrated with the unit cell as shown in FIG. 2A, or may be attached to the inlet of the anode chamber as shown in FIG. 2B. In all of these cases, the on-cell reformer may have a thickness of at least 500 [mu] m so as to serve as a physical support or be self-supporting, and may have a porosity of 40% or more, for example 40 to 80% .

When driving a fuel cell with an on-cell reformer, it can supply hydrocarbon fuel and oxygen at the same time to supplement the oxygen ions of the grid oxygen supplier or to help remove the carbon deposited on the metal catalyst. At this time, the amount of oxygen does not exceed the composition ratio at which partial oxidation of the hydrocarbons occurs. A mixed gas of hydrocarbon and oxygen may be used directly or diluted with an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the fuel supplied to the fuel electrode can use methane as the hydrocarbon fuel, and the on-cell reformer using nickel as the metal catalyst and ceria as the lattice oxygen supplier is integrated with the solid oxide fuel cell single cell It is confirmed that excellent fuel cell performance and long-term stability can be realized.

Example

A solid oxide fuel cell unit composed of Ni-gadolinium doped ceria (Gd _0.1 Ce _0.9 O _1.95 , GDC) anode, GDC electrolyte, and (La _0.6 Sr _0.4 ) _0.95 Co _0.2 Fe _0.8 O _3-x (LSCF) -ceria (CeO ₂ ) on-cell reformer to produce an on-cell reformer-integrated solid oxide fuel cell (see FIG. 3A).

In order to evaluate the methane use efficiency of the on-cell reformer integrated solid oxide fuel cell, a general anode-supported fuel cell comprising Ni-GDC as a support was also fabricated and compared (see FIG. 3B).

Ceria has been reported to have lower oxygen storage capacity as the amount of Gd doping increases, so that a change in performance depending on the oxygen storage capacity of the chemical reaction region can be observed.

The effect of the on - cell reformer was evaluated by evaluating the performance and long - term stability of the two types of single cells by simultaneously supplying hydrogen, methane, methane and oxygen as fuel to the unit cell. The flow rate of supplied fuel was 20 cc / min for hydrogen, 12-30 cc / min for methane, and 80 + 40 cc / min for mixed gas of methane and oxygen. The same air was supplied to the air electrode at 400 cc / min.

The performance of the unit cell was evaluated for each fuel supplied, and the results are shown in FIGS. 4A and 4B, respectively. As a result of the performance evaluation, the output density of the hydrogen supply was similar to that of the on - cell reformer supporting type and the fuel electrode supporting type. When methane was used, 0.65 for the anode supporting type and 0.94 W / cm ^{2 for the on -} And it can be seen that the hydrocarbon fuel can be utilized effectively when the on-cell reformer is used.

As a result of the exhaust gas analysis shown in FIG. 5, the on-cell reformer-supported cells exhibited superior methane conversion and lower coke selectivity than the anode-supported cells. Through this, it was confirmed that when the hydrocarbon fuel was chemically modified by using an on-cell reformer using ceria having a high oxygen storage capacity, carbon deposition could be effectively suppressed and excellent fuel conversion rate could be realized.

The on-cell reformer supported cells, which were confirmed to have excellent hydrocarbon fuel reforming efficiency, were used to test the long-term stability according to the flow rate of the supplied fuel. As shown in FIG. 6A, if the fuel flow rate is a small amount of 12 cc / min, the stable performance is maintained. However, if the flow rate is increased to 30 cc / min, a drastic decrease in performance is observed as shown in FIG. 6B.

As a result of observing changes in the time of exposure of the degraded cell to methane, the color gradually changed to black due to the carbon deposition as shown in FIG. 7, and the cell expanded and destroyed by the formation of the nickel-carbon compound. As a result of elemental analysis of these cells, it was confirmed that the carbon content was increased with time, and when the flow rate was increased, the performance deteriorated due to the poisoning by the carbon deposition and the destruction of the unit cell.

This phenomenon is caused by a phenomenon in which oxygen stored in the lattice oxygen supplier Ceria is insufficient. In order to prevent this phenomenon, methane and oxygen are supplied at a ratio of 2: 1 to increase the oxygen ion concentration in the ceria lattice, So that the carbon produced on the surface was oxidized.

The performance of the on - cell reformer supported cells was evaluated when methane and oxygen were fed at a ratio of 2: 1. As shown in FIG. 8A, when oxygen was additionally supplied, an excellent power density of 1.65 W / cm ² , which is almost the same as hydrogen, which is the most efficiently oxidized fuel, was realized at 650 ^° C. In addition, it was observed that a constant voltage was maintained without deterioration of performance for over 500 hours even though methane was supplied at an excess amount of 80 cc / min (see FIG. 8B), and the polarization resistance of the electrode hardly changed (see FIG. 8C) .

It has been confirmed that methane can be directly used as a fuel by using a solid oxide fuel cell using an on-cell reformer employing ceria and nickel having excellent oxygen storage capacity. Further, by supplying oxygen gas directly, It can be confirmed that the performance improvement and long-term stability of the fuel cell can be secured.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but, on the contrary, Modified, modified, or improved.

Claims (10)

A solid oxide fuel cell that is directly reformed internally using hydrocarbon fuel,
A single cell composed of a cathode / an electrolyte / a fuel electrode,
And an on-cell reformer disposed on a fuel electrode side of the unit cell,
Characterized in that the on-cell reformer is composed of an active material having catalytic ability to hydrocarbon fuel and a lattice oxygen supplier
Solid oxide fuel cell.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the on-cell reformer is integrated with the unit cell or attached to the inlet of the fuel electrode chamber.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the on-cell reformer uses an active material composed of any one of transition metal catalysts selected from nickel, ruthenium, rhodium, cobalt, iron, iridium, palladium, and platinum, or an alloy thereof. .
The method of claim 3,
Wherein the active material of the on-cell reformer further comprises any one of cocatalyst selected from gold, tin, tungsten, molybdenum, magnesium, sodium and potassium.
The method according to claim 1,
The lattice oxygen supplier of the on-cell reformer may include ceria, doped ceria oxide, perovskite oxide, doped perovskite oxide, brown millerite oxide, doped brown millerite, bismuth oxide, stabilized bismuth oxide, Ceria-zirconia solid solution oxide, ceria-zirconia solid solution oxide, ceria-zirconia solid solution oxide, ceria-zirconia solid solution oxide, ceria-chromium oxide and hexagonalcobaltite.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the on-cell reformer is formed to have a thickness of 500 탆 or more so as to be a support for a unit cell or to be fixed in a self-supporting manner.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the on-cell reformer has a porosity of at least 40%.
1. A solid oxide fuel cell comprising a unit cell composed of a cathode / electrolyte / fuel electrode, and an on-cell reformer disposed on a fuel electrode side of the unit cell,
Characterized in that oxygen is directly supplied to the fuel electrode together with the hydrocarbon fuel during the operation of the solid oxide fuel cell
A method of operating a solid oxide fuel cell.
9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the amount of oxygen supplied with the hydrocarbon fuel does not exceed a composition ratio at which partial oxidation of the hydrocarbons occurs.
9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the mixed gas of hydrocarbon and oxygen is used directly or diluted with an inert gas such as nitrogen or argon.

Images