• Journal of Electrochemical Science and Technology
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• v.13 no.1
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• pp.112-119
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• 2022

Molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) are environmentally friendly, large-capacity power generation devices operated at approximately 650℃. If MCFCs are to be commercialized by improving their competitiveness, their cell life should be increased by operating them at lower temperatures. However, a decrease in the operating temperature causes a reduction in the cell performance because of the reduction in the electrochemical reaction rate. The cell performance can be improved by introducing a coating on the cathode of the cell. A coating with a high surface area expands the triple phase boundaries (TPBs) where the gas and electrolyte meet on the electrode surface. And the expansion of TPBs enhances the oxygen reduction reaction of the cathode. Therefore, the cell performance can be improved by increasing the reaction area, which can be achieved by coating nanosized LiCoO₂ particles on the cathode. However, although a coating improves the cell performance, a thick coating makes gas difficult to diffuse into the pore of the coating and thus reduces the cell performance. In addition, LiCoO₂-coated cathode cell exhibits stable cell performance because the coating layer maintains a uniform thickness under MCFC operating conditions. Therefore, the performance and stability of MCFCs can be improved by applying a LiCoO₂ coating with an appropriate thickness on the cathode.

• Journal of the Korean Ceramic Society
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• v.36 no.2
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• pp.107-115
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• 1999

Microstructural variation and strengthening effects with lamination methods of alumina fiber-reinforced ${\gamma}$-LiAlO2 matrixes for Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell(MCFC) were studied. The porosities of all matrix laminated by hot-pressing of two green sheets under 1 kg/$\textrm{cm}^2$ at 45$^{\circ}C$ for 1 min and by double-casting which the second layer cast on the first green sheet dried for 3.5h were more than 50%. The strength of the Al2O3 fiber-reinforced matrix prepared by lamination was enhanced by 70% in comparison with the non-laminated matrix (115 gf/$\textrm{mm}^2$) and the strength-directionality due to fiber-orientation also could be removed. The strength of matrixes laminated by triple-casting was higher than that of the double-cast matrix, but triple-cast matrix showed the directionality with the casting direction, and furthermore its porosity was less than 50%. Although the strength of matrixes laminated by double-casting (195 gf/$\textrm{mm}^2$) is slightly less than that of matrixes laminated by hot-pressing (212 gf/$\textrm{mm}^2$), the double-casting method was evaluated to be more efficient laminating process in MCFC matrix processing.

• Proceedings of the KIPE Conference
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• 2008.06a
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• pp.18-20
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• 2008

An electrical balance of plant(EBOP) of a 600kW molten carbonate fuelcell (MCFC) has to transit from grid-connected(GC) mode to grid-independent(GI) mode when a grid is in a fault conditions. A minimum transition time is limited by four cycle for a 600kW MCFC to ride through a grid fault. In this paper, we propose a control algorithm of a 600kW EBOP for a MCFC system. The EBOP has three operation modes, i.e., GC mode, GI mode, and grid-synchronized(GS) mode. The EBOP controls output currents in a GC mode and regulates output voltages in GI or GS mode. GS mode is defined as an interface between GC mode and GI mode to make a mode transition smooth, i.e., limitation of inrush currents, regulation of output voltages within ANSI standard. Simulations and experiments carried out to verify the effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.56-63
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• 2018

In this study, a $100cm^2$ cell frame for a molten carbonate fuel cell was designed using CFD analysis. Electrochemical reactions, gas flow, and the heat transfer in $100cm^2$ cell frame were modeled using COMSOL Multiphysics. Two design variables such as the height of the cell frame and the length of the gas input area were determined to obtain minimized temperature distribution and uniform gas distribution. With two design parameter such as height of the cell frame and the length of the gas flow channel, the temperature difference in the cell fame was decreased to $5^{\circ}C$ and the gas uniformity in the flow channel were achieved.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.63-70
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• 2016

In this study, ash free coals(AFCs) were produced with lignite and anthracite coals in a microwave. The AFCs were analyzed with proximate analysis, fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FTIR), X-ray diffraction analysis, and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). The extraction yields of the AFCs were 16.4 wt%, 7.6 wt% at lignite and anthracite coal, respectively. The chemical and physical properties of the AFCs were similar regardless of the original coal types. Oxidation behavior of the AFCs was investigated by supplying a mixture of 3g of AFC and 3g of electrolyte into the coin-type molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC). For the evaluation of AFC fuel performance, electrochemical analysis of the steady-state polarization and step-chronopotentiometry were conducted based on the standard hydrogen fuel (69 mol% $H_2$, 17 mol% $CO_2$, 14 mol% $H_2O$). The AFCs showed similar electrochemical oxidation behaviors regardless of the original coal types. The overvoltage of the AFCs was larger than the hydrogen fuel, although OCV of the AFCs was higher.

• Journal of the Korean institute of surface engineering
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• v.28 no.4
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• pp.243-254
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• 1995

The fabrication process of Cu-base anode for replacing Ni-base anode of molten carbonate fuel cell was investigated. Electrochemical performance and thermal stability of Cu-base anode were also investigated. Green sheet was prepared by mixing Cu and Ni powder with 1.5wt% methylcellulose and 100wt% water. The pore-size distribution of the Cu-base anode sintered at $800^{\circ}C$ for 30min showed almost uniform pore-size ranging from 4 to 20$\mu\textrm{m}$ and it was considered suitable for MCFC anode. Cu-Ni anode containing between 35 to 50wt% Ni exhibited current density of 111mA/$\textrm{cm}^2$ at 100mV overpotential and it was almost the some value for pure Ni anode. The sintering resistance of Cu-Ni increased with an increase of Ni addition. It was considered that the increase of sintering resistance was due to the decrease of diffusion rate of Cu and Ni with increasing the addition of Ni in Cu-Ni alloy.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2010.11a
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• pp.87.2-87.2
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• 2010

The steady and dynamic process model for an internal reforming molten carbonate fuel cell power plant is discussed in this paper. The dominant thermal and chemical dynamic processes are modeled for the stack module and balance-of-plant, including cathode gas preparation, heat recovery, heat loss (Each heat loss amount for the stack and MBOP is obtained from real plant data) and fuel processing. Based on dynamic model and control demand, PID controllers are designed in the whole system. By applying these controllers we can obtain temperature balance of stack and control system depending on changing steam to carbon ratio, air feed amount, and transient condition.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2007.06a
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• pp.153-156
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• 2007

This paper presents the design, development and performance of a power conditioning system (PCS) for application to a 250kW Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) generation system. A DSP controller was used to control the dc-dc and dc-ac converter operation for grid connection and power injection to the grid. The controller must also supervise the total PCS operation while communicating with the fuel cell system controller. A control method for parallel operation of dc-dc converters was proposed and verified. A 250kW prototype was successfully built and tested. Experimental performances are compared to minimum target requirements of the PCS for MCFC.

• Journal of the Korean Institute of Illuminating and Electrical Installation Engineers
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• v.23 no.12
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• pp.154-161
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• 2009

A fuel cell power plant is a very complex system which has various control loops with some non-linearity. For control of a fuel cell power plant, dynamic models of fuel cell stacks have been developed and simplified process flow diagrams of a fuel cell power plant has been presented. Using such a model of a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) power plant, this paper deals with development of an intelligent setpoint reference governor (I-SRG) to find the optimal setpoints and feed forward control inputs for the plant power demand. The I-SRG is implemented with neural network by using Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm based on system constraints and performance objectives. The feasibility of the I-SRG is shown through simulation of an MCFC power plant for tracking control of its power demand.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2009.06a
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• pp.392-394
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• 2009

Direct Carbon Fuel Cells (DCFCs) generates electricity directly converting the chemical energy in coal. In the present study, effects of anode and current collector materials on the power density of DCFC are investigated experimentally. The adopted DCFC system is combined type of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC) with the use of a liquid-molten salt anode and a solid oxide electrolyte, proposed by SRI. Power densities of 25 mm button cells with various combination of anode materials and current collector materials are measured.