Ethanol steam reforming in a molten carbonate fuel cell: a thermodynamic approach

The economy of the world energy sources is showing interest in the utilization of oxygenated products whose purpose is to improve the storage and the transfer of hydrogen as a non-polluting fuel with a high heat power density. An interesting field of utilization of these products is represented by the fuel cell systems for production of electricity. In this respect, the use of the water/ethanol mixture has been investigated as an alternative fuel for molten carbonate fuel cells. Some thermodynamic calculations have been carried out by a mathematical model to determine the energy and mass balances for a water/ethanol fuelled molten carbonate fuel cell. The thermodynamic efficiencies determined for this system have been correlated with the main operative parameters that give some interesting findings indicating encouraging aspects on the utilization of these systems to the production of electricity and heat. Lastly, attractive operative conditions have been determined and compared with that of a molten carbonate fuel cell with methane direct internal reforming.