2007 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary
Elucidation of the electrolyte volatile phenomenon of MCFC by the visualization technique
| Project/Area Number |
18560217
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| Research Category |
Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
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| Allocation Type | Single-year Grants |
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| Section | 一般 |
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| Research Field |
Thermal engineering
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| Research Institution | Osaka Prefectural College of Technology |
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Principal Investigator |
SUGIURA Kimihiko Osaka Prefectural College of Technology, Dept. of Industrial Systems Engineering Mechanical Systems Course, Associate Professor (00249814)
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| Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha) |
TANIMOTO Kazumi National Institutes of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology, Kansai, Section Sub-leader (60357473)
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| Project Period (FY) |
2006 – 2007
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| Keywords | Fuel Cell / New Energy / Hydrougn / General Energy |
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| Research Abstract |
Volatilization of molten salt is one of the factors to control the performance of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFC). The power of MCFC deteriorates for which the long time operation of MCFC causes the depletion of the electrolyte and this electrolyte volatile matter blocks exhaust pipe. However, most researchers are not interested in this problem in spite of serious problem. One of the reasons is that it is difficult to analyze it because the carbonate is strong alkalinity. Therefore, we proposed the method by which an electrolyte volatile phenomenon in the cell can be observed by a non-contact image measurement technique. We use MCFC single cell's frame which has an observation window and an irradiation window. As a result, we elucidate the volatile phenomenon of (Li+K)/CO_3. Although the volatile matters of (Li+K)/CO_3 in anode are produced with a cellular reaction, (Li+K)/CO_3 in cathode is hardly volatiled with cell reaction. Moreover, we elucidate the electrolyte volatile phenomenon of (Li+Na)/CO_3. Although the volatile matter with cell reaction cannot be observed, the volatile matter which does not depend on the cell reaction was sometimes confirmed. Generally, (Li+Na)/CO_3 electrolyte is hardly volatile more than (Li+K)/CO_3 electrolyte. We confirmed the advantage of (Li+Na)/CO_3 electrolyte by observing the inside cell by a non-contact image measurement technique under the cell operating condition. However, a large amount of electrolytes that originated in the leakage from the wet seal part are discharged beginning immediately after operation and lasting until about one week later on the Li/Na electrolyte. Therefore, because the Li/Na electrolyte hardly permeates into the pores of an electrode, a poor assembly accuracy of the gap between an electrode and a separator, an overfilling of electrolyte and a large flow-rate immediately after start-up should be avoided.
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Research Products
(4 results)
