Syngas and electricity production by an integrated autothermal reforming/molten carbonate fuel cell system

The feasibility and the overall process economy of an integrated system of molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) and autothermal reformer (ATR) have been studied. The ATR–MCFC performance has been evaluated in terms of pressure, inlet rates of oxygen and steam, current density and cell configuration (indirect or direct). The process, carried out close to the MCFC basic conditions (T=923 K), can be alternatively addressed to the main production of syngas or electricity by means of the inlet operative parameters that strongly influence the outlet composition and the overall thermal balance. A better heat compensation (but a small syngas/electricity production) corresponds to a greater oxygen content in the inlet stream (O2/H2O/CH4=0.6/2/6/1), while the H2 residual is a complex function of the current density and of the O2/H2O/CH4 relative ratios. A total gases pressure in the ATR compartment higher as that into the anodic housing can be hypothesised for a direct ATR–MCFC equipped with a ceramic membrane that strongly improves the cell performance.