Modeling of a Single Repeating Unit for Protonic Ceramic Cell Applications

Protonic Ceramic Cells (PCCs) are a promising alternative to oxygen-ion conducting solid oxide cells (SOCs), offering benefits for hydrogen separation, electrolysis and fuel cell applications. The current development stage is focusing on the scale-up of the technology to cross the gap between single cells and stacks. The design of single repeating units (SRU) is the intermediate stage of the development. This work developed a numerical model for the 3D steady-state simulations of an SRU geometry designed for a circular, anode-supported PCC. The model has been applied to the simulation of fuel cell operation and has been calibrated using experimental data from the literature. The model is able to accurately reproduce experimental results obtained at 600 °C. The simulation platform developed can be also adapted to the simulation of electrolysis operation and can be applied to the optimization of the SRU geometry.