Liquid Tin Anode Direct Coal Fuel Cell

Although most power produced in the U.S. comes from coal, the environmental footprint of coal has made it difficult to site and build new plants. Many new options for coal power generation involve techniques to capture CO2 emissions, but these often require additional costly and inefficient process steps. A simple, efficient technology for directly converting coal to power while producing a pure CO2 stream would preserve coal¿s place in the U.S. power generation mix and enhance energy security. This project will develop a direct coal-power-generation concept by using the Liquid Tin Anode Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (LTA-SOFC), which has the potential for converting coal to electric power at very high efficiency while capturing CO2. In Phase I, several feasible cell designs were developed for scaling the LTA-SOFC to the required size for utility applications. In Phase II, experimental work will focus on evaluating the durability of the technique in a coal environment. In these experiments, long term testing of the LTA-SOFC will establish the impact of coal contaminants on the electrolyte and other cell components. Techniques to eliminate any observed failure modes will be developed. Commercial Applications and other Benefits as described by the awardee: The LTA-SOFC should significantly improve the environmental footprint of coal power production. The projected efficiency of over 60%, with CO2 capture, would be higher than any other advanced coal technology. The LTA-SOFC also could be used to efficiently generate power from biomass and other renewable resources ¿ because the technology is scalable, the LTA­SOFC could be deployed as a distributed generation resource, improving access to renewable fuels while providing power generation close to the point of use.