Adeniyi O.D., Ewan, B.C.R., Adeniyi M.I. and Abdulkadir M. (2014) The behaviour of biomass char in two direct carbon fuel cell designs, Journal of Energy Challenges & Mechanics (JECM), Aberdeen, Scotland, United Kingdom, Vol.1, Issue 4, article 6, pp.1-6 http://www.nscj.co.uk/JECM/PDF/1-4-6-Adeniyi.pdf .

Abstract

The performances of two fuel cell designs are reported using carbon fuel arising from the pyrolysis of a number of common biomass materials. In the first, a simple design based on carbonate saturated zirconia cloth is used whilst in the second, a proprietary prototyping button cell based on solid oxide technology is investigated. Gold mesh current collectors are used in both cases. Results are presented for the power density and cell voltage versus current density at 800oC and show that peak powers of 70 mW/cm2 at current densities of 100 mA/cm2 are achievable and that the more highly engineered solid oxide design will perform better by a factor of around 5 on both measures. The results demonstrate that, with only moderate processing, power generation from biomass using more advanced electrochemical technologies, with higher thermal efficiencies, can make a useful contribution to the overall effort to reduce CO2 emissions.