Reforming of Fuel Inside Fuel Cell Generator

In a high temperature solid oxide fuel cell, air and a fuel are combined to form heat and electricity. Because fuels such as methane and alcohol can, under certain conditions, form carbon or soot at the very high temperatures at which these fuel cells operate, and carbon and soot can reduce the efficiency of the fuel cell, the fuels that can be used in the cell have generally been limited to carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The carbon monoxide and hydrogen can be obtained by reforming fuels such as methane, ethane, and alcohols. Reforming is a process in which the reformable fuel is combined with water and/or carbon dioxide to produce carbon monoxide and hydrogen. For example, the reforming of methane and ethane using water and carbon dioxide are given by the following equations: ##STR1## The reformed fuel is then used in the solid oxide fuel cell. Since reforming is an endothermic process, additional thermal energy must be supplied either by direct combustion or by heat transfer through the walls of a heat exchanger.

Until now, the reforming of the fuel had to be performed outside of the fuel cell generator because no one had discovered how this chemical process could be performed within the generator structure itself. Reforming outside of the fuel cell generator required the use of heat exchangers, pumps, and other types of equipment. U.S. Pat. No. 4,128,700, for example, illustrates the reforming of a fuel outside of the fuel cell generator. The reforming of fuel outside the generator is undesirable as it results in a loss of energy as heat in the reformer and in conduits between the generator and the reformer, and the apparatus is more complicated, requires more space, and is more expensive.

I have discovered that a reformable gaseous fuel can be reformed within a fuel cell generator if the partially spent fuel stream from the fuel cells is divided into two streams. One stream is combined with the partially spent air stream to form an exhaust stream. A portion of the exhaust stream is then vented while the remaining portion of exhaust stream is combined with the other portion of the partially spent fuel stream. That combined stream is then mixed with the gaseous reformble fuel. By dividing and recombining these streams in this way, I am able to obtain the amount of energy as heat that is required in the reformation process, and, at the same time, I obtain the appropriate amount of water and carbon dioxide that is required to reform the fuel. In this way, the fuel is reformed inside the solid oxide fuel cell generator. As a result, no heat is lost in processes that occur outside the generator and the entire process of converting the fuel into electricity is more efficient. The method and apparatus of this invention are relatively simple and inexpensive and do not require much room within the fuel cell generator. Other advantages will, no doubt, occur to those skilled in the art.

The accompanying drawing is a side view in section illustrating a certain presently preferred embodiment of a solid oxide fuel cell generator incorporating the improvements of this invention.

In the drawing, a refractory container 1 is formed of walls 2, base 3, and inlet air manifold 4. Within refractory container 1 are a multiplicity of solid oxide fuel cells 5. Each cell consists of an air electrode on the inside, an electrolyte in the middle, and a fuel electrode on the outside. (Details of the cell construction are not shown but can be found in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,520,082, 4,395,468, and 4,562,124, herein incorporated by reference.) An air feed tube 6 passes through inlet air manifold 4 to the bottom of each cell. Oxygen in the air passes through the fuel cell material as oxygen ions to the outside of the tube where the oxygen ions react with fuel, generating electricity and heat. Spent or unreacted air passes into exhaust plenum 7. Fuel enters through apertures 8 in fuel plenum 9 and passes around the outside of the tube moving upward in the drawing. The spent fuel is divided into two streams, one of which passes through apertures 10 in exhaust manifold 11 into exhaust plenum 7 where it mixes with the partially spent air stream, resulting in the burning of the fuel. A portion of the exhaust gases in the exhaust plenum 7 pass through aperture 12 in inlet air manifold 4 where they are vented. The remaining portion of the exhaust gases in exhaust plenum 7 pass through aperture 13 in dividing wall 14 to mixing chamber 15. The other portion of the spent fuel passes through aperture 16 in dividing wall 14 into mixing chamber 15, where it is mixed with that portion of the exhaust gases. A reformable gaseous fuel enters through tube 17 and passes through nozzle 18 past barrier 19. Nozzle 18 and barrier 19 form a jet stream which results in the injection of the reformable fuel into the gases in mixing chamber 15 and draws the gases from mixing chamber 15 into the catalytic packing 20 in catalyst chamber 21. Here, the reformable fuel is reformed to form carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The carbon monoxide and hydrogen pass into the fuel plenum 22, then through the apertures 8 in fuel distribution block 9, completing the cycle.

Any reformable gaseous fuel can be used in the process and apparatus of this invention, including hydrocarbons such as methane, ethane, and propane, as well as alcohols such as methanol. The preferred fuel is natural gas which consists primarily of methane, because it is inexpensive. The reforming of these fuels can be performed without a catalyst, but a catalyst is preferably present as the reaction is too slow without a catalyst. Common catalysts include finally divided nickel and platinum; nickel is preferred because it is much less expensive than platinum.

The injection of the raw fuel into the mixed gases can occur in a variety of ways, but a jet pump is preferable because the very high temperatures in the solid oxide fuel cell make other means of injection more expensive and troublesome. A jet pump works on the well known Venturi principle where the barrier 19 in the drawing is aerodynamically shaped so that the mixed gases are drawn along with the fuel.

The ratio of the division of the partially spent fuel which passes directly into the mixing chamber or into the exhaust plenum depends upon the particular reformable fuel being used. The general principle is that the greater the proportion of partially spent fuel that passes into the exhaust gas chamber, the higher will be the temperature, and the more water that will be present. Thus, the relative size of apertures 10 and 16 is adjusted so that the amount of water that enters the mixing chamber 15 is stoichiometric or in excess of the amount that is stoichiometrically required to reform the particular fuel that is being used. Because the combustion that occurs in the exhaust plenum releases heat, if more of the spent fuel is sent to the exhaust plenum, the temperature of the gases in the mixing chamber will be higher. Thus, the temperature required to reform the particular fuel being used can be attained by adjusting the size of apertures 10 and 13; other means of controlling the relative magnitude of the different streams, such as by using valves, is also contemplated. If the fuel is methane, for example, about 1/4 to about 1/3 of the volume of the partially spent fuel should be returned to the mixing chamber, either directly or after it has been reacted with the partially spent air stream. The calculation of the ratios of the various streams is within the skill of a person having ordinary skill in the art. For about a 75% fuel utilization and about a 25% oxidant utilization in the generator proper, about 15 to about 25% by volume of the spent fuel is typically sent directly to the mixing chamber and about 75 to about 85% by volume is sent to the exhaust plenum, and the spent fuel in the exhaust plenum typically contains about 10 to about 20% by volume of unreacted oxidant.