Ash-Free Coal as Fuel for Direct Carbon Fuel Cell

This work describes the performance of direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) fueled by an ash-free coal. Carbon is typically originated from coal that is readily available and economical. However, employing coal in DCFC has been excluded, mainly due to its left-behind ash after the cell reactions. In the study, carbonaceous ash-free component of coal was extracted using organic solvent, which was then evaluated as a DCFC fuel. An electrolyte-supported SOFC structure was adapted to build DCFC. When an ash-free coal was internally gasified to fuel gases, the power density was improved by more than 20%, compared to N2 environment. Both an ash-free coal and its reformed gases were found to take part in the electrochemical reactions.