The compound Bi2V0.9Cu0.1O5.35, a typical Aurivillius-type fast oxygen ion conductor, was evaluated as a possible cathode material for single-chamber solid-oxide fuel cells operated under mixed propane and oxygen. The material was found to be structurally stable under various C3H8 O2 environments over a wide temperature range and furthermore displayed low catalytic activity for propane oxidatio...

The performance characteristics of anode-supported, thin-film, single chamber fuel cells (SCFCs) have been investigated. Cells, in which Ni+Sm0.15Ce0.85O2 (Samaria doped ceria, SDC) served as the anode and SDC as the electrolyte, were fabricated by dry pressing. High quality, bilayer structures with electrolyte thicknesses as small as 10 Am were prepared with excellent reproducibility. The cath...

Fuel rod analysis program transient (FRAPTRAN) code was used to study the fuel rod performance during a postulated large break loss of coolant accident (LBLOCA) in Maanshan nuclear power plant (NPP). Previous transient results from thermal hydraulic code, TRACE, with the same LBLOCA scenario, were used as input boundary conditions for FRAPTRAN. The simulation results showed that the peak claddi...

Introduction The fuel processor in which hydrocarbon fuels can be converted into hydrogen has recently attracted much attention as a result of the advancement in the fuel cell technology. In a fuel processor, the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction plays a crucial role in the transformation of CO, a well-known poisonous gas to electrode of fuel cell, into hydrogen through reaction with steam. In WGS...

Preliminary studies of used fuel generated in the US Department of Energy’s Advanced Fuel Cycle Initiative have indicated that current used fuel transport casks may be insufficient for the transportation of said fuel. This work considers transport of three 5-year-cooled oxide advanced burner reactor used fuel assemblies with a burn-up of 160 MWD kg. A transport cask designed to carry these asse...

New proton exchange membrane (PEM) materials with high proton conductivities at elevated temperatures (ca. > 150 °C) offer the promise of improving PEM fuel cell operation. Higher operating temperatures would provide several benefits including: (i) improved resistance to carbon monoxide poisoning of the platinum (Pt) electrocatalyst at the anode, (ii) reduced need for feed-stream heat and humid...

In addition to lower emissions warm mix asphalt has several advantages over hot mix asphalt such as fuel energy savings, decreased binder aging and an extended paving season (Photo courtesy: Matthew Corrigan, FHWA) The National Center for Asphalt Technology (NCAT) is evaluating warm mix asphalt (WMA) technologies. WMA technology allows the mixing, lay down, and compaction of asphalt mixes at si...

During the last three decades, a large number of investigations has been reported pertaining to the science and technology of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) based mainly on the yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte. Because of the problems associated with the high temperature of operation ( ,-~ 1 000 ~ of the YSZ-based cells, there has been a substantial effort to develop alternative ele...