Processes in Fuel Cells with Molten Carbonate Electrolytes

Fuel cells with molten carbonate electrolytes have received attention [1—10] in recent years for two reasons  

The sections of this chapter deal with basic problems encountered in carbonate fuel cells. 

---

XIII. Processes in Fuel Cells with Molten Carbonate Electrolytes... 

Antoine Cesar Becquerel in France in 1855 and Pavel Yablochkov in Russia in 1877 bnilt electrochemical devices using coal anodes in a molten KNO3 electrolyte (see Howard, 1945, and Liebhafsky and Cairns, 1968). In 1896, William Jacques obtained a U.S. patent for his invention of a coal battery with a coal anode and an iron cathode immersed in molten alkali NaOH (this battery was mentioned in Chapter 2). Despite the great doubts raised as to the nature of the processes taking place in it, the electrical performance of his 100-cell battery operating at 400 to 500°C was rather impressive total power of 1.5 kW and current densities up to 100 mA/cm. Much later, the prototype of a carbon fuel cell with a solid electrolyte working at a temperature of 1000°C was built by Baur and Preis in Switzerland, 1937). 

Once the principles of operating in a molten salt environment have been grasped, suitable extrapolations or interpolations of materials requirements and cell and equipment designs can be made between different systems. In bringing a molten salt process into commercial operation, unique materials problems requiring special solutions often limit its progress, but practically never prevent it. Thus, if a desired result may not be achieved for theoretical reasons in any alternative electrolyte, because of electrochemical instability, for example, then initial development costs and difficulties become inconsequential. Such has been the case with thermal batteries, " sodium-sulfur batteries, molten fluoride nuclear reactors, and molten carbonate fuel... 

---