ENERGY-BALANCE OF DIFFERENT INTERNAL REFORMING MCFC CONFIGURATIONS

The internal reforming concept has been successfully integrated in mol ten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC) systems. In this paper, a comparison be tween the direct (DIR-MCFC) and indirect internal reforming (IIR-MCFC) configurations has been made. This approach, realized through a sensi tivity analysis of suitable models, allows the advantages and disadvan tages of the two configurations to be evaluated in terms of mass trans fer balances and efficiencies. The temperature, steam/carbon ratio, el ectrical power and useful heat fraction have been found to be the most important parameters for optimizing the efficiencies of the two syste ms. Moreover, a detailed analysis of the technical problems presented by the two systems gives meaningful conclusions about their reliabilit y for the production of electricity. (C) 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Lt d.