Performance Optimization Based on Modeling of a Molten Carbonate Direct Carbon Fuel Cell

A direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) converts the chemical energy in the carbon fuel directly into electricity without gasification and is considered as one of the most promising and highly efficient technologies in power generation, CO2 capture and sequestration. A molten carbonate direct carbon fuel cell uses solid carbon as fuel and molten carbonate as electrolyte. Modeling simulation, as a powerful complementary tool, can provide insights or guidance on where and how DCFC performance can be improved. In this work, a unit cell model for a molten carbonate DCFC is first presented. Second, a mathematical description of the performance optimization problem for the molten carbonate DCFC is proposed in which the working current density under a specified voltage is taken as the objective function and some geometrical parameters, such as porosity, solid material volume fractions, are taken as the optimization variables. The mathematical optimization problem is solved by using MATLAB software. The optimal volume fractions of solid electric conducting material and liquid electrolyte are obtained under different operation temperatures and bubble velocities.