Dual fuel type solid oxide fuel cell using dimethyl ether and liquefied petroleum gas as fuels

To clarify the potential of dimethyl ether (DME) as a fuel for solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems designed for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), steam reforming and evaluation of an SOFC fueled by DME and propane, a main component of LPG, were carried out. Steam reforming of DME was tested over a commercial reforming catalyst, which easily converted DME to reformate gas with equilibrium gas composition. No carbon deposition over the catalyst's surface was observed at steam-carbon (S/C) ratio of 1.5. In addition, propane was easily reformed under steam reforming conditions at S/C 3.5. These results indicate that both DME and LPG are reformed well over the same catalyst and reformer. Evaluation of the SOFC performance was carried out by supplying reformate gases with equilibrium composition to an anode-supported small tubular cell. The SOFC obtained similar performance when either DME (S/C 2.0) or propane reformate gas (S/C 3.5) was supplied to the cell. In addition, when evaluation of cell performance was carried out under steady power, about the same level of DC electrical efficiency was realized when either DME (S/C 1.5) or propane reformate gas (S/C 3.5) was used. The results show that DME can be used as a fuel for an SOFC system designed for LPG without drastic alterations to the system. In addition, DME and propane realize the same levels of power and power generating efficiency when the fuels are reformed at adequate S/C values. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.