Inherently Catalyzed Boudouard Reaction of Bamboo Biochar for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Improved Performance

The feasibility of direct utilization of bamboo biochar (BC) as a fuel for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is studied by comparing BC to de-ashed BC (DC) and activated BC (AC) in terms of Boudouard reactivity and the performance of the fuel cell. The CO partial pressures in the carbon dioxide tempera...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: An, Wenting, Sun, X., Jiao, Yong, Wang, S., Wang, Wei, Tade, Moses, Shao, Zongping, Li, S., Shuang, S.
Format: Journal Article
Published: American Chemical Society 2018
Online Access:http://purl.org/au-research/grants/arc/DP150104365
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.11937/67324
Description
Summary:The feasibility of direct utilization of bamboo biochar (BC) as a fuel for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is studied by comparing BC to de-ashed BC (DC) and activated BC (AC) in terms of Boudouard reactivity and the performance of the fuel cell. The CO partial pressures in the carbon dioxide temperature-programmed oxidation profiles of BC and DC are 3.18 × 10 -8 and 1.04 × 10 -8 Torr at 850 °C, respectively, which indicates that BC has superior Boudouard reactivity compared to DC. The peak power densities (PPDs) of the cells fueled with BC and DC are 121 and 73 mW cm -2 at 850 °C, respectively. The inherent metal elements in BC, mainly K of 33.88 mg g -1 and Ca of 2.06 mg g -1 , play a key role in boosting its Boudouard reactivity and the performance of the cell. In addition, the loading of artificial catalysts to BC can noticeably enhance its Boudouard reactivity and gain a higher power output of the cell fed with it. The PPD of catalyst-loaded BC achieves approximately 191 mW cm -2 at 850 °C. This study reveals that BC is a promising carbon-neutral fuel for SOFCs and provides an efficient alternative to use this renewable resource in sustainable power generation.