Molten carbonate fuel cell: An experimental analysis of a 1 kW system fed by landﬁll gas Annamaria Buonomano a , Francesco Calise a,⇑ , Gabriele Ferruzzi b , Adolfo Palombo a a DII – Univ. of Naples Federico II, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125 Naples, Italy b DiT – Univ. of Naples Parthenope, Centro Direz. IS.C4, 80143 Naples, Italy highlights  A novel cylindrical geometry 1 kW MCFC is analysed.  A description of the considered experimental set-up is provided.  The results of a suitable experimental campaign are discussed.  The MCFC is fed by hydrogen, landﬁll gas and different mixtures of them.  A comparative analysis of the so fuelled MCFC performance results is performed. article info Article history: Received 21 May 2014 Received in revised form 18 November 2014 Accepted 20 November 2014 Keywords: MCFC Experimental analysis Landﬁll gas fuelling abstract In this paper the results of an on-site experimental analysis carried out on a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell (MCFC) fed by different fuels (hydrogen, landﬁll gas and different mixtures of them) are presented. The examined MCFC is one of the experimental devices of an innovative power plant located at the urban landﬁll of Giugliano in Campania (Naples, Italy). Here, electricity is produced through four cogenerative reciprocating engines and one cogenerative gas turbine fed by landﬁll gas, operating since 2003. At the same site, two different fuel cells are installed for scientiﬁc purposes. During the considered experimental campaign, the MCFC is initially supplied by hydrogen for testing the system at the best operating conditions. Afterward, the fuel cell is fed by mixtures of different ratios of hydrogen and reformed landﬁll gas. For this reason, the system is equipped with an external reformer and a suitable gas cleaning. In order to analyse the system energy performance under varying electricity loads (obtained through an electronic device), several tests were carried out. In addition, several stress tests were also performed aiming at analysing the system endurance when fed by landﬁll gas. The exper- imental results concerning the produced electric currents and voltages show satisfactory performance of the system, while the obtained operating temperatures and cell reliability still need to be improved. Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction The most interesting advantages of Fuel Cells (FC) are ﬂexibility of operation, low emissions and high conversion efﬁciency. The available FC technologies can be classiﬁed as a function of their operating features. Among them, high temperature fuel cells are presently the most attractive ones. Both Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) [1,2] and Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFC) [3] belong to this category, since their operating temperatures range between 600 and 1000 °C [4]. High temperature fuel cells are especially attractive for their capability to use cheap and unconventional fuels (e.g. natural gas, methane, biogas, syngas, etc.), while other typologies of fuel cells require high-purity hydrogen as fuel. In a MCFC, the electrolyte is an alkali carbonate or a combina- tion of alkali carbonates and ceramic matrices of LiAlO 2 [4]. The high operating temperatures of MCFCs make them particularly suitable for stationary electricity and heat cogeneration [5]. A com- prehensive review of MCFC systems for steady state use, in both grid and non-grid-connected applications (dispersed and distrib- uted generation), with or without combined heat and power capa- bility is presented in [6]. The operating temperatures of this technology reach about 650 °C, which is the temperature threshold required for ensuring the optimal electrolyte conductivity. An additional important advantage of this technology lies in the pos- sibility to avoid the use of noble metals as catalysts during the oxi- http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2014.11.044 0306-2619/Ó 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 0817682301; fax: +39 0812390364. E-mail address: frcalise@unina.it (F. Calise). Applied Energy 140 (2015) 146–160 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Applied Energy journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/apenergy