Effects of coal-derived syngas contaminants on tubular SOFC performance and degradation part 1 – syngas production and electrochemical testing

Long-term durability tests were performed using anode-supported tubular solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and coal-derived syngas produced at the University of North Dakota & Energy and Environmental Research Center, degraded at 0.41%/1000 h during 1300 h of long-term durability testing with the pilot-scale cleaned coal-derived syngas, which is comparable to that with natural gas. To understand coal contaminants’ (e.g., AsH 3 , PH 3 , H 2 S, and HCl) impact on SOFC performance and degradation individually or synergistically, a test matrix with four contaminants and three levels of concentration (0.05–1.0 ppm for AsH 3 , PH 3 , and H 2 S and 0.5–10 ppm for HCl) was tested at 750°C. SOFC durability testing was also completed using coal-derived syngas with injected up to four contaminants into the fuel stream individually or synergistically, at current density of 0.227 A/cm 2 . For SOFC performance tests using coal-derived syngas with injected contaminants, the individual contaminant concentrated up to 1 ppm for AsH 3 , PH 3 , or H 2 S and 10 ppm for HCl did not noticeably impact anode performance. However, a significant synergistic effect was observed when the four contaminants were injected into syngas fuel simultaneously at concentrations as low as 0.5 ppm AsH 3 , PH 3 , and H 2 S and 5 ppm HCl.