Coke Formation and Degradation in SOFC Operation with a Model Reformate from Liquid Hydrocarbons

The influence of hydrocarbon-containing fuel gases on cell performance and coke formation is investigated in this work, wherein acetylene is applied as a model compound for the coke formation. The dependence of coke yield on acetylene amount (volume fraction of 0.05–0.50%) and gas composition is analyzed. Further parameters which are varied are temperature and operation time. It is shown that the mass of coke that is formed on the cell depends strongly on acetylene volume fraction and temperature. As a consequence, acetylene has a severe influence on the electrical cell performance, and acetylene concentration and temperature can be correlated to degradation effects.