| For the wetting studies of the molten carbonates, the meniscus height due to polarization was experimentally measured in the oxidant and reducing atmospheres and its dependence on polarization, gas environment, electrolyte melt composition and temperature was thoroughly investigated.; A stochastic electrode structure was introduced to simulate the MCFC porous electrodes. In building the structure, the porosity was employed for the assignment of particles and the fixed-volume capillary equilibrium concept was adopted for the distribution of electrolyte. The wetting properties determined from the experiment were used for the capillary equilibrium approach. By virtue of the structure, the porous electrode was visualized and the (cumulative) pore size distribution was estimated. The electrolyte fill level within the porous electrode was predicted and polarization effect on electrolyte distribution was examined.; The stochastic structure model was combined with an agglomerate-type porous electrode performance model. The agglomerates were defined by combining the particle, electrolyte, and pore cells in the structure according to well-defined rules and the structure-dependent model parameters were determined. Using the agglomerate model, a performance of porous MCFC electrode was predicted with the solution technique based on the finite element method. |
