Integrated Gasification Fuel Cell Cycle

An integrated gasification fuel cell cycle is a power generation approach that couples the gasification of a solid fuel with a high-temperature fuel cell, typically a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC). Lower-temperature fuel cells, such as the proton exchange membrane, phosphoric acid and alkaline types, need pure hydrogen and are poisoned by carbon monoxide, so they normally run on hydrogen made by external reforming of natural gas. An SOFC is not poisoned by carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide and can accept hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, steam and methane mixtures directly because of its own internal shift and reforming capability. This makes it possible to gasify a solid fuel such as coal or biomass into syngas and feed the resulting hydrogen, carbon monoxide and methane mixture straight to the fuel cell, without the added cost and complexity of separately reforming the methane, shifting the water gas and separating out pure hydrogen. This description is adapted from Wikipedia contributors under CC BY-SA 4.0; changes were made. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/