Effects of H2S on molten carbonate fuel cells

Phase 2 work was directed toward determination of the impact of H2S contaminants upon the ability of nickel-10% chromium anodes to catalyze the steam reforming reaction. Small amounts of three hydrocarbons representative of three homologous series were added to the fuel. These series were the paraffin series with methane as its representative, the olefin series with ethylene and the aromatics with toluene. Results indicated that the nickel-10% chromium anode had little catalytic activity toward the steam reforming of methane, but the steam reform did have 70% of the ethylene and about 30% of the toluene. The addition of 5 ppM hydrogen sulfide to the fuel totally poisoned all steam reforming activity. Phase 3 work addressed the impact on cell performance of SO2 in the oxidant gases. The cell was operated for 200 hours on clean fuel and oxidant. After baseline data had been collected, the cell was switched to an oxidant supply that contained 2 ppM of SO2. After 170 hours of operation on contaminated oxidant, no SO2 could be detected in the oxidant exhaust although 200 ppM of H2S were present in the fuel exhaust steam.