Kinetics of Internal Methane Steam Reforming in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells and Its Influence on Cell Performance– Coupling Experiments and Modeling L. Fan, M Pourquie, A.T. Thattai, A.H.M. Verkooijen and P.V. Aravind Department of Process & Energy, Delft University of Technology, Delft 2628 CA, the Netherlands Mathematical modeling tools are useful for predicting the safe operation limits and efficiencies of SOFCs. For a particular SOFC design, variations in internal methane reforming kinetic parameters is expected to affect local gas compositions, local Nernst voltages, current densities and temperature profiles and in turn the safe operation limits and efficiency. However, it is observed that methane reforming kinetic data widely used in SOFC CFD models are often determined from measurements on nickel catalysts taken under experimental conditions not close enough to SOFC operation conditions causing significant inaccuracies in model calculation results. For this reason, kinetic properties of the methane steam reforming reaction in complete fuel cells with Ni–GDC (Gd 0.1 Ce 0.9 O 2 ) anodes were experimentally evaluated. SOFCs with different anodes made of different materials may perform differently due to the different reforming kinetics and the different thermal properties. Introduction Fuel cell technology appears to be a promising generation of novel power sources. One of the essential advantages for the efficient operation of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) is the flexible choice of fuel. Under certain conditions, natural gas or biosyngas (including CH 4 ) can be introduced into SOFCs directly as fuel gases without any external reformers (1). This is because the SOFC anodes can catalyze the steam reforming of CH 4 (2-5). With internal steam reforming, solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems have the potential to become a promising technology (6, 7). A large variation of steam reforming kinetics is provided in literature, and the experimental data are obtained under different conditions (3-5, 8, 9). Influence of different reforming kinetics combined with different thermal properties on the cell performances is still unknown. Mathematical modeling is an effective tool to facilitate predicting appropriate design of fuel cell systems. A CFD model of a biogas (obtained from biomethanation) fueled SOFC is studied by G. E. Marnellos et al (10), and an improved understanding of the involved physical, electrical, and chemical processes was given. P. Aguiar et al (11) have simulated the steady-state performance of anode-supported intermediate temperature SOFCs. Q. Cai et al (12) have modeled the 3D microstructure and performance of SOFCs. The study of different kinetic for internal reforming reactions by CFD in anode-supported SOFCs by Hedvig Paradis et al (13) enhanced the understanding of the internal reforming reactions and their effects on the transport processes. However, to better understand the relationship between reforming kinetics and the cell performance, a more detailed 10.1149/05701.2741ecst ©The Electrochemical Society ECS Transactions, 57 (1) 2741-2751 (2013) 2741 ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS license or copyright; see 131.180.131.94 Downloaded on 2013-10-28 to IP ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS license or copyright; see 131.180.131.94 Downloaded on 2013-10-28 to IP ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS license or copyright; see 131.180.131.94 Downloaded on 2013-10-28 to IP ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS license or copyright; see 131.180.131.94 Downloaded on 2013-10-28 to IP ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS license or copyright; see 131.180.131.94 Downloaded on 2013-10-28 to IP ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS license or copyright; see 131.180.131.94 Downloaded on 2013-10-28 to IP ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS license or copyright; see 131.180.131.94 Downloaded on 2013-10-28 to IP ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS license or copyright; see 131.180.131.94 Downloaded on 2013-10-28 to IP ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS license or copyright; see 131.180.131.94 Downloaded on 2013-10-28 to IP ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS license or copyright; see 131.180.131.94 Downloaded on 2013-10-28 to IP ecsdl.org/site/terms_use address. Redistribution subject to ECS license or copyright; see 131.180.131.94 Downloaded on 2013-10-28 to IP