The effects of thermal conductivity of porous layer on chemical reaction and transport processes in a SOFC anode duct

The chemical reaction and transport processes in a composite anode duct of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) are influenced by thermal conductivity of porous layer, and have significant effects on overall performance and stability of SOFC. In this paper, the considered composite anode duct consists of a porous layer for the internal reforming reaction of methane, the fuel gas flow duct and solid plate. A fully three-dimensional calculation code was developed to analyze transport processes and combined effects on internal reforming/electrochemical reactions under the conditions of various thermal conductivity of porous layer. The results show that the thermal conductivity had effects on the chemical reactions rate, fuel gas and temperature distributions, and higher temperature gradients appeared at the left-below corner in the porous layer when higher thermal conductivity was adopted.