Transportation SOFC-based APUs

Figure 1-14 shows a simplified layout for an SOFC-based APU. The air for reformer operation and cathode requirements is compressed in a single compressor and then split between the unit operations. The external water supply shown in figure 1-14 will most likely not be needed the anode recycle stream provides water. Unreacted anode tail gas is recuperated in a tail gas burner. Additional energy is available in a SOFC system from enthalpy recovery from tail gas effluent streams that are typically 400-600°C. Current thinking is that reformers for transportation fuel based SOFC APUs will be of the exothermic type (i.e. partial oxidation or autothermal reforming), as no viable steam reformers are available for such fuels. 

SOFC-Based Transportation Auxiliary Power Units (APUs)... 

Based upon current publicly available data, PEM and anode-supported SOFC technologies are the most promising technologies for transportation APUs, and thus will be the focus of this project. The performance specifications of fuel cell technologies are summarized in Figure 1. The key factors that... 

---