Numerical Modeling of a Microtubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Using COMSOL Multiphysics®

P. Pianko-Oprych[1], E. Kasilova[1], Z. Jaworski[1]
[1]West Pomeranian University of Technology, Faculty of Chemical Technology and Engineering, Szczecin, Poland
Published in 2013

Micro-tubular Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (mSOFC) are attracting more and more interest as new generation of energy conversion devices. Although commercial applications still suffer from high costs, there is a need for further improvement of the cell performance, durability and start-up. To resolve those challenges, knowledge of the distributions of species concentration, temperature and current density in the mSOFCs is essential. Simulations of reformed propane flow coupled with mass, species and charge transfer were performed. In the simulations the charge transfer reaction was treated as a bulk reaction instead of the surface-lumped approach. A general form of the Butler-Volmer equation was used, concentration polarization was neglected. The obtained numerical curves of the voltage and power density vs. current density corresponded well to experimental data.