Internal Reforming in Ceres Power Solid Oxide Fuel Cell technology

Ceres Power will use this project to explore and evaluate the technical feasibility of performing internal reforming (IR) of hydrocarbon fuel directly within its metal supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), the Steel Cell, which operates at 500-600°C, well below the accepted IR range used in high temperature SOFC (720°C). Exploitation of IR provides an opportunity to further reduce the overall system cost and increase efficiency by designing out (or reducing the requirements of) the dedicated indirect reformer in the fuel cell module (FCM) and reducing the cooling load on the SOFC stack. The project will research, assess, select and test suitable catalytic materials and methods to perform IR with the Steel Cell. Success would reduce system cost and increase affordability of Ceres' low emission energy generating Steel Cell technology for a wider range of applications.