Dynamic modelling and characteristics analysis of methanol steam reforming solid oxide fuel cell system

Methanol is considered an ideal liquid fuel for solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) due to its advantages in storage and transportation. However, there is no research on the dynamic characteristics of methanol steam reforming solid oxide fuel cell (MSR-SOFC) systems. This paper proposes a simplified MSR-SOFC system that utilizes hydrogen catalytic combustion to provide heat for the MSR reaction. A dynamic model of the system is established using AMESim software. The dynamic characteristics of the system, internal energy balance and dynamic energy efficiency under different fuel utilization conditions of SOFC are investigated. The results indicate that the hysteresis of the hydrogen mass flow during the step-up of the current leads to depletion of the hydrogen concentration, the energy efficiency of the step-up process of the system is lower than the steady state process by 5.2 % at a fuel utilization rate of 0.65. Hydrogen catalytic combustion cannot satisfy the heat demand for MSR reaction when the fuel utilization is greater than 0.65. The current step ratio and fuel supply should be controlled when adjusting the power of SOFC, and the control effect and parasitic loss should be comprehensively evaluated in the system control.