KR20150020463A - Fuel cell apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a fuel cell device, and, more specifically, to a fuel cell device capable of increasing the efficiency of the fuel cell device by supplying oxides, the reaction products produced in the electricity production process of a first fuel cell to a second fuel cell. The fuel cell device according to an embodiment of the present invention comprises a first fuel cell, which produces electricity by using fuel including carbon, and produces oxides including carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide during the electricity generation process; and a second fuel cell, which additionally produces electricity by utilizing the oxides produced in the first fuel cell.

Description

FUEL CELL APPARATUS

The present invention relates to a fuel cell apparatus.

Unlike the method of generating electricity by burning fuel by burning the fuel, the fuel cell device produces electricity by direct electrochemical reaction, so that the power generation system of the fuel cell device is simplified without discharging environmental pollutants generated by the combustion So that electricity can be produced more efficiently than the power generation device by fuel combustion.

Generally, hydrogen and oxygen are used as the fuel and the oxidant used in the fuel cell apparatus. A polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEMFC) driven at low temperature is a typical fuel cell device. In addition, in the case of a MCFC operating at a high temperature, hydrogen can be used as a fuel and carbon dioxide as an oxidizing agent.

Research has been conducted to increase the efficiency of the entire fuel cell apparatus by using different kinds of fuel cell devices in combination.

Korean Patent No. 10-0923447

An embodiment of the present invention is to provide a fuel cell apparatus capable of increasing the efficiency of a fuel cell apparatus by supplying an oxide, which is a result of a reaction generated in an electricity production process of a first fuel cell, to a second fuel cell.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a fuel cell comprising: a first fuel cell that generates electricity using fuel containing carbon and generates an oxide including carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in an electric production process; And a second fuel cell that further utilizes the oxide produced in the first fuel cell to produce electricity.

The first fuel cell may include a direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC), the second fuel cell may include a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), and may supply oxygen from the cathode of the first fuel cell And supply carbon monoxide in the oxide generated by oxidizing the fuel containing carbon to the anode of the second fuel cell.

The fuel cell apparatus may further include a CO separator connected to the first fuel cell to separate carbon monoxide contained in the oxide and supply the carbon monoxide to the second fuel cell.

The first fuel cell may include a direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC), and the second fuel cell may include a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC), and may supply oxygen from the cathode of the first fuel cell And supplying carbon dioxide of the oxide generated by oxidizing the carbon-containing fuel to the cathode of the second fuel cell.

The fuel cell apparatus may further include a CO2 separator connected to the first fuel cell to separate carbon dioxide contained in the oxide and supply the separated carbon dioxide to the second fuel cell.

The second fuel cell may include a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC). The second fuel cell may generate oxygen by supplying oxygen from the cathode of the first fuel cell, The carbon monoxide in the oxide may be supplied to the anode of the solid oxide fuel cell, and the carbon dioxide in the oxide may be supplied to the cathode of the molten carbonate fuel cell.

The fuel cell apparatus may further include a reformer that supplies a product generated by using the fuel-producing raw material and steam to the second fuel cell.

The fuel cell apparatus may further include a CO separator for separating carbon monoxide from the product produced by the reformer and supplying the separated carbon monoxide to the solid oxide fuel cell.

The CO separator may be connected to the first fuel cell to separate the carbon monoxide contained in the oxide and supply the carbon monoxide to the solid oxide fuel cell.

The fuel cell apparatus may further include a CO2 separator for separating carbon dioxide from the remaining carbon monoxide removed from the product produced by the reformer and supplying the separated carbon dioxide to the molten carbonate fuel cell.

The CO 2 separator may be connected to the first fuel cell to separate the carbon dioxide contained in the oxide and supply the carbon dioxide to the molten carbonate fuel cell.

Wherein the fuel for the second fuel cell is contained in the remainder of the gas introduced into the CO 2 separator except for the carbon dioxide separated in the CO 2 separator and the fuel for the second fuel discharged from the CO 2 separator is supplied to the second fuel cell .

Among the oxides produced by the solid oxide fuel cell during the electric production process, carbon dioxide may be supplied to the cathode of the molten carbonate fuel cell.

According to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to increase the efficiency of the fuel cell device by supplying oxide, which is the result of the reaction produced in the first production process of the first fuel cell, to the second fuel cell, A fuel cell device can be realized.

1 is a view showing a fuel cell apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention,
2 is a view showing a fuel cell apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention,
3 is a view showing a fuel cell apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The present invention is capable of various modifications and various embodiments, and specific embodiments are illustrated in the drawings and described in detail in the detailed description. It is to be understood, however, that the invention is not to be limited to the specific embodiments, but includes all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Referring to the accompanying drawings, the same or corresponding components are denoted by the same reference numerals, do.

1 is a view showing a fuel cell apparatus according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

1, the fuel cell apparatus 1000 according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a first fuel cell 100 and a second fuel cell 200. [

The first fuel cell 100 generates electricity using fuel containing solid carbon (C), and releases oxides including carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon dioxide (CO2) during the electric production process.

The second fuel cell 200 utilizes the oxide produced by the first fuel cell 100 to produce additional electricity.

As described above, the fuel cell apparatus 1000 according to the first embodiment of the present invention supplies the resultant oxide, which is the reaction product produced in the process of electricity generation of the first fuel cell 100, to the second fuel cell 200, The efficiency of the fuel cell apparatus can be increased by utilizing the fuel cell apparatus for the electric production of the battery 200.

In this embodiment, the first fuel cell 100 may be a direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) or the second fuel cell 200 may be a solid oxide fuel cell SOFC, 210).

Since the first fuel cell 100 and the second fuel cell 200 generate electricity by an electrochemical reaction, it is possible to generate electricity more efficiently due to a simple power generation system without discharging environmental pollutants generated by the combustion have.

The first fuel cell 100 can produce electricity by using solid carbon (C) as a fuel.

The first fuel cell 100 includes a cathode (cathode or cathode) 104 generating O ^{2 -} using oxygen contained in the air, and an electrolyte capable of moving O ^{2 -} generated in the cathode 104 And an anode (anode or anode) 102 which reacts O ^{2 -} supplied from the electrolyte with a fuel containing carbon to produce reaction products (oxides) such as CO or CO 2.

The following chemical formulas (1) and (2) show the chemical reactions occurring in the anode 102 and the cathode 104 of the first fuel cell 100, respectively.

[Chemical Formula 1]

^{C + O 2 - → CO₂ +} 2e -

C + 1/2 O ^{2 -} > CO + e ^-

(2)

1/2 O² + 2e ^- > O ^{2 -}

1, O ^{2 -} generated in the cathode 104 of the first fuel cell 100 moves to the anode 102 of the first fuel cell 100 through the electrolyte and flows into the anode 102 of the first fuel cell 100 The carbon (C), the fuel, is oxidized to form reaction products (ie, oxides) such as CO or CO2, and electrons 2e ^- and e ^- are generated accordingly. At this time, when the anode 102 of the first fuel cell 100 and the cathode 104 are electrically connected to each other, electrons 2e ^- and e ^- flow to form a current.

Meanwhile, the following chemical formulas (3) and (4) show the chemical reactions occurring in the anode 212 and the cathode 214 of the solid oxide fuel cell 210, which is the second fuel cell 200, respectively.

(3)

CO + O ^{2 -} > CO2 + 2e ^-

H 2 + 1/2 O ^{2 -} → H ² O + e ^-

[Chemical Formula 4]

1/2 O² + 2e ^- > O ^{2 -}

1, O ^{2 -} generated in the cathode 214 of the solid oxide fuel cell 210 which is the second fuel cell 200 is transferred to the anode 212 of the solid oxide fuel cell 210 through the electrolyte Oxides such as CO 2 or H 2 O are formed by oxidizing CO and H 2, which are the fuels of the solid oxide fuel cell 210, so that electrons 2e ^- and e ^- are generated. At this time, when the anode 212 of the solid oxide fuel cell 210 and the cathode 214 are electrically connected to each other, electrons 2e ^- and e ^- flow to form a current.

At this time, oxides including carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide can be generated from the anode 102 of the first fuel cell 100 and the second fuel cell 200 such as the solid oxide fuel cell 210 can generate the first fuel And can be used to additionally produce electricity utilizing the oxide generated after the chemical reaction in the battery 100.

In the case of this embodiment, a part of the oxide generated by oxidizing the fuel (C) containing carbon, that is, the carbon monoxide (C0), is supplied from the cathode 104 of the first fuel cell 100 to the second fuel And can be supplied as fuel to the anode 212 of the solid oxide fuel cell 210 which is the battery 200. [

1, the carbon monoxide (C0) required as fuel for the anode 212, which is the fuel electrode, in the solid oxide fuel cell 210, which is the second fuel cell 200, And is supplied by the carbon monoxide (CO) generated by the reaction, so that the efficiency of the fuel cell apparatus can be improved.

1, the fuel cell apparatus 1000 according to the present embodiment supplies the products (H2, CO, CO2) generated by using the raw material for generating fuel and steam to the second fuel cell 200 The reformer 300 may further include a reformer.

The reformer 300 is connected to the second fuel cell 200 (for example, H 2, CO, and CO 2) from fuel producing raw materials containing hydrogen (for example, hydrocarbons such as LPG, LNG, methane, coal gas, ethanol, gasoline, ) Can be converted to the required material.

The reformer 300 may convert the products H 2, CO, and CO 2 to a second fuel cell (for example, the solid oxide fuel cell 210 in this embodiment or a molten carbonate fuel cell 220 in the embodiment described later) 200) as a fuel required for a chemical reaction or a reactant necessary for a cathode (air electrode).

1, the fuel cell apparatus 1000 according to the present embodiment separates carbon monoxide (CO) from the products H2, CO, and CO2 generated by the reformer 300 and separates the separated carbon monoxide And a CO separator 400 for supplying the CO 2 to the anode 212 of the solid oxide fuel cell 210 which is the second fuel cell 200.

In the case of this embodiment, the CO separator 400 separates only carbon monoxide (CO) from the products H 2, CO, and CO 2 and supplies it to the anode 212 of the solid oxide fuel cell 210 as the second fuel cell 200 .

In this case, the CO separator 400 may be connected to the first fuel cell 100 as shown in FIG. 1, and the carbon monoxide (CO, CO 2) contained in the oxides CO) may be separated and supplied as fuel to the anode 212 of the solid oxide fuel cell 210 which is the second fuel cell 200.

1, the fuel cell apparatus 1000 according to the present embodiment is configured to remove carbon monoxide (CO) from the products H2, CO, and CO2 generated by the reformer 300, (C02) from the carbon dioxide (CO2).

The CO 2 separator 500 is connected to a CO separator 400 connected to the first fuel cell 100 as shown in FIG. 1 and includes carbon dioxide (CO 2) contained in the oxide (CO, CO 2) discharged from the first fuel cell 100 (C02) can be separated.

In this case, the CO2 separator 500 according to the present embodiment separates carbon dioxide (CO 2) from the remaining gases (H 2, CO 2) from which carbon monoxide (CO) has been removed and removes the final material, Can be supplied as fuel to the anode 212 of the solid oxide fuel cell 210, which is the second fuel cell 200.

At this time, the carbon dioxide (CO2) separated by the CO2 separator 500 may be supplied to the cathode 224 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 of the following embodiment (see FIGS. 2 and 3).

2 is a view showing a fuel cell apparatus according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

2, the fuel cell apparatus 2000 according to the second embodiment of the present invention may be configured such that the second fuel cell 200 is a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) 220 .

In the following description of the present embodiment, the same or corresponding portions as those of the fuel cell apparatus 1000 according to the above-described embodiment will not be described in detail, (200) will be mainly described.

The following chemical formulas 5 and 6 show the chemical reactions occurring in the anode 222 and the cathode 224 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 as the second fuel cell 200, respectively.

[Chemical Formula 5]

H 2 + CO 3 ^- → H 2 O + CO 2 + e ^-

[Chemical Formula 6]

CO₂ + 1/2 O² + e ^- → CO₃ ^-

2, CO 3 ^- generated in the cathode 224 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 as the second fuel cell 200 moves to the anode 222 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 through the electrolyte, H 2, which is the fuel of the carbonate fuel cell 220, is oxidized to form reaction products (ie, oxides) such as CO 2 and H 2 O, thereby generating electrons e ^- . At this time, when the anode 222 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 is electrically connected to the cathode 224, the electrons e ^- flow to form a current.

2, an oxide including carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide may be generated at the anode 102 of the first fuel cell 100, and a second fuel such as the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 may be produced. The battery 200 can be used to further generate electricity by utilizing the oxide generated after the chemical reaction in the first fuel cell 100. [

In the case of this embodiment, a part of the oxides generated by oxidizing the fuel (C) containing carbon, that is, the carbon dioxide (CO2), is supplied from the cathode 104 of the first fuel cell 100 to the second fuel To the cathode 224 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 which is the battery 200. [ This supplied carbon dioxide (CO 2) can be used to produce CO 3 ^- using the oxygen contained in the air at the cathode 224.

2, carbon dioxide (CO2) necessary for the cathode 224, which is an air electrode, in the molten carbonate fuel cell 220, which is the second fuel cell 200, is supplied to the chemical reaction of the first fuel cell 100 And the efficiency of the fuel cell apparatus can be improved because it is supplied by the generated carbon dioxide (CO2).

2, the CO 2 separator 500 removes carbon monoxide (CO) from the products H 2, CO, and CO 2 generated by the reformer 300 and then supplies the remaining gases (H 2, CO 2 (CO 2) can be separated from the carbon dioxide (CO 2). At this time, the separated carbon dioxide (CO 2) may be supplied as a reactant necessary for the reaction to the cathode 224 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 as the second fuel cell 200.

The CO2 separator 500 separates the carbon dioxide (CO 2) from the final material, that is, the fuel H 2 for the second fuel cell, into the anode 222 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 that is the second fuel cell 200 It can be supplied as fuel required for chemical reaction.

That is, the CO2 separator 500 can supply the remainder (H2) from which carbon dioxide (CO2) has been removed to the anode 222 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220, which is the second fuel cell 200. [

3 is a view showing a fuel cell apparatus according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

3, the fuel cell apparatus 3000 according to the third embodiment of the present invention may be configured such that the first fuel cell 100 may be a direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC), and the second fuel cell 200 May include a solid oxide fuel cell 210 and a molten carbonate fuel cell 220.

That is, in this embodiment, the second fuel cell 200 may include a plurality of fuel cells.

In the following description of the present embodiment, the same or corresponding portions as those of the fuel cell apparatuses 1000 and 2000 according to the above embodiments will not be described in detail, The fuel cell 200 will be mainly described.

3, an oxide including carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide can be generated from the anode 102 of the first fuel cell 100, and the direct carbon type fuel cell 210 and the molten carbonate fuel The second fuel cell 200 including the battery 220 may be used to further generate electricity by utilizing the oxides (CO, CO2) generated after the chemical reaction in the first fuel cell 100. [

In this embodiment, a part of the oxides (CO, CO2) generated by oxidizing the fuel C containing carbon by receiving oxygen from the cathode 104 of the first fuel cell 100, that is, carbon monoxide C0 May be supplied as fuel to the anode 212 of the solid oxide fuel cell 210. [

Part of the oxides (CO, CO2), that is, carbon dioxide (CO2), may be supplied as a reactant to the cathode 224 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220. [ This supplied carbon dioxide (CO 2) can be used to produce CO 3 ^- using the oxygen contained in the air at the cathode 224.

3, the carbon monoxide (CO) required as the fuel of the anode 212, which is the fuel electrode in the solid oxide fuel cell 210 of the second fuel cell 200, (CO) generated by the chemical reaction of the fuel cell 100, the efficiency of the fuel cell device can be improved.

3, carbon dioxide (CO2) necessary for the cathode 224, which is an air electrode, in the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 of the second fuel cell 200 is oxidized by the chemical reaction of the first fuel cell 100 And the efficiency of the fuel cell device can be improved since it is supplied by the generated carbon dioxide (CO2).

3, the CO 2 separator 500 removes carbon monoxide (CO) from the products (H2, CO, CO2) generated by the reformer 300 and then supplies the remaining gases (H2, CO2 (CO 2) can be separated from the carbon dioxide (CO 2). At this time, the separated carbon dioxide (CO 2) may be supplied as a reactant necessary for the reaction to the cathode 224 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220, which is one of the second fuel cells 200.

The CO2 separator 500 separates the carbon dioxide (CO 2) and transfers the remaining gas, that is, hydrogen (H 2) to the anode 222 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220, which is one of the second fuel cells 200, Or may be supplied as fuel required for a chemical reaction to the anode 212 of the solid oxide fuel cell 210, which is another one of the second fuel cells 200.

That is, the fuel H₂ for the second fuel cell is supplied to the remaining material H2 excluding the carbon dioxide separated by the CO2 separator 500 from the gases (H2, CO2) flowing into the CO2 separator 500 from the CO separator 400 And the fuel H 2 for the second fuel cell discharged from the CO2 separator 500 may be supplied to the solid oxide fuel cell 210 and the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 which are the second fuel cell 200 have.

That is, the CO2 separator 500 separates the remaining carbon dioxide (CO2) from the solid oxide fuel cell 210 constituting the second fuel cell 200 and the anode 212 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 , 222 as fuel.

In this case, the CO 2 separator 500 may be connected to the CO separator 400 connected to the first fuel cell 100 as shown in FIG. The CO 2 separator 500 separates the carbon dioxide CO 2 contained in the oxides CO 2 and CO 2 discharged from the first fuel cell 100 and supplies the separated carbon dioxide CO 2 to the cathode of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 of the second fuel cell 200 224, respectively.

3, carbon dioxide (CO 2) among the oxides generated through the chemical reaction in the anode 212 of the solid oxide fuel cell 210 is supplied to the cathode 224 of the molten carbonate fuel cell 220 ) And can be recycled to produce CO3 < ^- >.

According to this embodiment, the oxide, which is the result of the reaction produced in the first production process of the first fuel cell, is supplied to the second fuel cell and utilized for the production of electricity of the second fuel cell, A battery device can be implemented.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, many modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. The present invention can be variously modified and changed by those skilled in the art, and it is also within the scope of the present invention.

1000, 2000, 3000: Fuel cell device 100: First fuel cell
102: anode 104: cathode
200: Second fuel cell 210: Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)
212: anode 214: cathode
220: Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) 222: Anode
224: cathode 300: reformer
400: CO separator 500: CO2 separator

Claims (13)

A first fuel cell that generates electricity using a fuel containing carbon and generates an oxide including carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide in an electric production process; And
And a second fuel cell that utilizes the oxide produced in the first fuel cell to additionally produce electricity. The method according to claim 1,
The first fuel cell includes a direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC)
The second fuel cell includes a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC)
And supplying carbon monoxide in the oxide generated by oxidizing the fuel containing carbon to the anode of the second fuel cell by supplying oxygen from the cathode of the first fuel cell. 3. The method of claim 2,
And a CO separator connected to the first fuel cell to separate carbon monoxide contained in the oxide and supply the carbon monoxide to the second fuel cell. The method according to claim 1,
The first fuel cell includes a direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC)
Wherein the second fuel cell comprises a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC)
And supplying carbon dioxide in the oxide generated by oxidizing the fuel containing carbon by supplying oxygen from the cathode of the first fuel cell to the cathode of the second fuel cell. 5. The method of claim 4,
And a CO 2 separator connected to the first fuel cell to separate carbon dioxide contained in the oxide and supply the separated carbon dioxide to the second fuel cell. The method according to claim 1,
The second fuel cell includes a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) and a molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC)
Supplying carbon monoxide to the anode of the solid oxide fuel cell by supplying oxygen from the cathode of the first fuel cell to oxidize fuel containing the carbon,
And carbon dioxide in the oxide is supplied to the cathode of the molten carbonate fuel cell. The method according to claim 6,
Further comprising a reformer for supplying a product generated by using the raw fuel for fuel production and steam to the second fuel cell. 8. The method of claim 7,
Further comprising a CO separator for separating carbon monoxide from the product produced by the reformer and supplying the separated carbon monoxide to the solid oxide fuel cell. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the CO separator is connected to the first fuel cell to separate the carbon monoxide contained in the oxide and supply the carbon monoxide to the solid oxide fuel cell. 9. The method of claim 8,
Further comprising a CO2 separator for separating carbon dioxide from the remaining carbon monoxide removed from the product produced by the reformer and supplying the separated carbon dioxide to the molten carbonate fuel cell. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the CO 2 separator is connected to the first fuel cell to separate the carbon dioxide contained in the oxide and supply the carbon dioxide to the molten carbonate fuel cell. 11. The method of claim 10,
Wherein the fuel for the second fuel cell is contained in the remainder of the gas introduced into the CO 2 separator except for the carbon dioxide separated in the CO 2 separator and the fuel for the second fuel discharged from the CO 2 separator is supplied to the second fuel cell Gt; The method according to claim 6,
Wherein carbon dioxide among the oxides produced by the solid oxide fuel cell in the electric production process is supplied to the cathode of the molten carbonate fuel cell.

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