Development of Cell-Protecting Methods for Carbon-Removal from Porous Ni-YSZ Anodes and Regeneration of the Cell Performance

Carbon deposition is one of the major obstacles that reduce the lifetime of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and can thus significantly shorten the lifetime of auxiliary power units (APUs). Carbon deposits block the gas pores, cover the catalytic active sites, and induce the microstructure and performance degradation. In order to extend the lifetime of the cells used, effective and cell-protecting strategies for carbon gasification and restoring of the cell performance must be developed. This study scrutinizes various approaches for this purpose. They are based on hydrogen, steam, and oxygen enriched gas mixtures. Gasification strategies which enable complete carbon removal and performance restoring in a cell-protecting manner and their practicability for industrial usage are examined and summarized in this study.