[peppercorn]

Liquid Tin Anode Solid Oxide Fuel Cell for
Direct Conversion of Carbon Based Fuels



Will we see a return of the coal hopper as well?
....
But, seriously this looks cool (well cooler than combustion anyway!).

[peppercorn]

I've forgotten how to do picture resize as you can probably tell :/

[CliffordK]

Interesting article.
1000°C is pretty hot, and is one of the reasons that fuel cells haven't gotten into "home use".

Is the reaction exothermic?  Perhaps there could also be secondary power generated through a cooling system.

What about plastics for fuel?

[peppercorn]

It is hot isn't it! But I suppose so long as the reaction chamber is in a crash proof container it could work safely for something like a train.

The main challenge is probably scaling - The authors description is clearly up approaching the power station kind of scales.  It doesn't rule out it being scaled down to mobile apps, but I imagine their systems would take a time in terms of hours to reach operating conditions.

The doc does mention using waste plastics as a fuel to be tested - so I guess most hydrocarbon based compounds could be 'fired' in this device.

I would hope (in a way) that there is no economic use for secondary heat, simply due to the Fuel Cell having such a high theoretical efficiency (I think 70% is mentioned), so if the system is exothermic it is relatively 'only just'.  I think high temp fuel cells are able to keep a consistent heat for continual operation, build into the design - anymore, as they say, would be a waste.

[syhprum]

Is there any way I can read this without paying $39.95

I found this

https://www.llnl.gov/str/June01/Cooper.html

[BenV]

1000°C is pretty hot, and is one of the reasons that fuel cells haven't gotten into "home use".

This is one of the reasons people are proposing solid oxide fuel cells for combined heat & power in industrial and residential estates - you can use the heat generated for central heating!

[Geezer]

Is there any way I can read this without paying $39.95

I found this

https://www.llnl.gov/str/June01/Cooper.html

Cool!
 
1000C isn't all that hot. Peak combustion temperatures in an IC engine might be much greater than that.
 
As PC points out, it's not so much the temperature as the amount of waste energy. 70% efficiency is pretty impressive.

[peppercorn]

1000C isn't all that hot. Peak combustion temperatures in an IC engine might be much greater than that.
 
As PC points out, it's not so much the temperature as the amount of waste energy. 70% efficiency is pretty impressive.

That's below the temp where NOx forms in IC engines for instance! - Not such a problem for Fuel-cells of course.

With potentially only 30% of (probably at a low-heating value) wasted heat being left over (A well insulated casing for the cell would ensure these high efficiency numbers) I don't think that we ought to spend too long worrying about picking up that spare energy.... [might be enough left for the driver to run a nice bath at the end of his commute ]

Syhprum, I think there are quite a number of articles on Direct Carbon Fuel Cells, and several variations in their operation.

So basically, forget the Hydrogen economy (that the Oil giants are keen to lend prophesy to; can't imagine what their reason is!! ) and ready yourselves for the Carbon economy! ('oh how very 19th century!!'...who said that?!)

Oh, yes and also this type of technology lends itself much better to Carbon Sequestration; if as is probably likely sequestration will have to play a fairly big role in any serious efforts of global carbon reduction.

[peppercorn]

Not quite cutting edge tech, but interesting (and vaguely relevant) nonetheless:

New biomass-powered train to travel at 130mph