High Temperature Solid Oxide Electrolyte Fuel Cell Formulation: Non-Steady State Utilization of Fuel and Oxidant

The formulation presented in this paper was developed with the objective of its application to investigate the transient behavior of a high temperature solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC); especially with respect to the non-steady state consumption of fuel and oxidant reactants.  Specifically, the chemical species transient amounts, their mole fractions, and total pressures in the cell anode-side fuel- (hydrogen) and cathode-side oxidant- (oxygen of the air) chambers can be predicted under the isothermal condition at a fixed cell-current level.  The developed formulation is also capable of predicting the transient mole fraction profiles of fuel (hydrogen) and oxidant (oxygen) in the cell porous anode and cathode, respectively; thus, providing insight into the reactant species' effective transport and their utilization, via electrochemical reactions, in the cell porous electrodes.  The presented formulation can be adapted for any fuel and oxidant combinations in any high temperature SOFC.