Thermal transpiration based pumping and power generation

This paper involves integrated power generation and thermal transpiration pumping to obtain combined thermal and electrical energy generation using hydrocarbons by employing Single Chamber Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SCSOFCs) for energy conversion. This combines results achieved through previous work on thermal transpiration based pumping and introduce low temperature SOFCs to generate power. This paper examines low temperature ignition (70°C) using catalysts and outlines the fabrication procedures for low temperature SOFCs. The entire process is carried out inside a cube with edges of 3 cm called the combustor. The combustor was successfully applied in a self-sustaining gas pump system having no moving parts and using storable hydrocarbon fuel. Low temperature cells have been fabricated using Samaria-Doped-Ceria (SDC) as the electrolyte, a cermet mixture of nickel and SDC (Ni-SDC) as the anode and Ba_0.5Sr_0.5Co_0.8Fe_0.2O₃ (BSCF) as the cathode. Such cells have produced power densities of 420 mW/cm² at 550°C. Motivated by these results high-purity Gadolinia-Doped-Ceria (GDC) as demonstrated by S. Zha is being investigated which increases the electrolyte conductivity, resulting in better performance under lower temperature.