Direct carbon conversion in a helium fluidized bed fuel cell

A solid oxide fuel cell based fluidized bed configuration is employed for the first time to convert solid carbon directly into electricity. Current–voltage characteristics exhibited typical fuel cell behavior with large ohmic losses. Chromatographic analysis of the product gases in the flue stream confirmed conversion of carbon. This is also verified by oxygen mass balance. Peak power densities for carbon compared well with benchmarking tests that employed only gaseous fuels. A possible mechanistic pathway is proposed to explain the observed behavior.