A Direct Carbon Fuel Cell (DCFC) is a fuel cell that uses a carbon rich material as a fuel such as bio-mass[1] or coal.[2] The cell produces energy by combining carbon and oxygen, which releases carbon dioxide as a by-product.[3] It is also called coal fuel cells (CFCs), carbon-air fuel cells (CAFCs), direct carbon/coal fuel cells (DCFCs), and DC-SOFC.
The total reaction of the cell is C + O2 → CO2.
The process in half cell notation:
Anode: C + 2O2− → CO2 + 4e−
Cathode: O2 + 4e− → 2O2−
Despite this release of carbon dioxide, the direct carbon fuel cell is more environmentally friendly than traditional carbon burning techniques. Due to its higher efficiency, it requires less carbon to produce the same amount of energy. Also, because pure carbon dioxide is emitted, carbon capture techniques are much cheaper than for conventional power stations. Utilized carbon can be in the form of coal, coke, char, or a non-fossilized source of carbon.[4][5][6]
At least four types of DCFC exist.
^Munnings, C.; Kulkarni, A.; Giddey, S.; Badwal, S.P.S. (August 2014). "Biomass to power conversion in a direct carbon fuel cell". International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 39 (23): 12377–12385. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2014.03.255.
^Rady, Adam C.; Giddey, Sarbjit; Kulkarni, Aniruddha; Badwal, Sukhvinder P.S.; Bhattacharya, Sankar (October 2014). "Degradation Mechanism in a Direct Carbon Fuel Cell Operated with Demineralised Brown Coal". Electrochimica Acta. 143: 278–290. doi:10.1016/j.electacta.2014.07.088.
^Giddey, S; Badwal SPS; Kulkarni A; Munnings C (2012). "A comprehensive review of direct carbon fuel cell technology". Progress in Energy and Combustion Science. 38 (3): 360–399. doi:10.1016/j.pecs.2012.01.003.
^Rady, Adam C.; Giddey, Sarbjit; Kulkarni, Aniruddha; Badwal, Sukhvinder P.S.; Bhattacharya, Sankar (October 2014). "Degradation Mechanism in a Direct Carbon Fuel Cell Operated with Demineralised Brown Coal". Electrochimica Acta. 143: 278–290. doi:10.1016/j.electacta.2014.07.088.
^Munnings, C.; Kulkarni, A.; Giddey, S.; Badwal, S.P.S. (August 2014). "Biomass to power conversion in a direct carbon fuel cell". International Journal of Hydrogen Energy. 39 (23): 12377–12385. doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2014.03.255.
^HyungKuk Ju, Jiyoung Eom, Jae Kwang Lee, Hokyung Choi, Tak-Hyoung Lim, Rak-Hyun Song, and Jaeyoung Lee, Durable power performance of a direct ash-free coal fuel cell, Electrochimica Acta 115 (2014) 511. doi:10.1016/j.electacta.2013.10.124
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