Effect of Catalyst Coating On Anode Current Collector On IR-MCFC Performance

Reforming catalyst for producing hydrogen has developed for several decades and research on Ni/Al₂O₃ based catalyst for internal reforming molten carbonate fuel cell (IR-MCFC) is already in a commercialization. Finding proper catalyst loading method of internal reforming catalyst for IR-MCFC has been raised as the latest issue which has to be dealt significantly.

The catalyst loading method is important because it affects not only loading pattern and amount of catalyst, but also the performance of IR-MCFC such as cell temperature distribution. In this work, effect of catalyst coating on anode current collector (ACC) is studied in an effort to develop suitable loading methods. Other catalyst loading methods, such as pellet loading and paste injection methods are also performed to compare with the coating method.

Single cell tests using the catalyst coating method are performed by changing utilization ratio of fuel, cell temperature and S/C ratio. Using the result of the study, cell performance and catalytic kinetics of the catalyst coating method are discussed with respect to its application to IR-MCFC.