ETHANOL STEAM REFORMING IN A MOLTEN-CARBONATE FUEL-CELL - A THERMODYNAMIC APPROACH

The economy of the world energy sources is showing interest in the uti lization of oxygenated products whose purpose is to improve the storag e and the transfer of hydrogen as a non-polluting fuel with a high hea t 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 inves tigated as an alternative fuel for molten carbonate fuel cells. Some t hermodynamic calculations have been carried out by a mathematical mode l to determine the energy and mass balances for a water/ethanol fuelle d molten carbonate fuel cell. The thermodynamic efficiencies determine d for this system have been correlated with the main operative paramet ers 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 d irect internal reforming.