international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he

Numerical investigation of a direct ammonia

tubular solid oxide fuel cell in comparison with
hydrogen

Mustafa Ilbas*, Berre Kumuk, Molla Asmare Alemu, Busra Arslan

Gazi University, Department of Energy Systems Engineering, Ankara, Turkey

highlights

The effect of using different fuel has been investigated on the cell performance.

The increasing temperature increases the performance of SOFC for both fuels.

The CS-SOFC outperforms the ES-SOFC and AS-SOFC for ammonia fuel.

The position of the anode is playing a great roll in performance and polarization.

article info abstract

Article history: Nowadays, carbon-rich fuels are the principal energy supply utilized for powering human
Received 14 October 2019 society, and it will be continued for the next few decades. Connecting with this, modern
Received in revised form energy technologies are very essential to convert the available limited carbon-rich fuels
4 April 2020 and other green alternative energies into useful energy efficiently with an insignificant
Accepted 7 April 2020 environmental impression. Amongst all kinds of power generation systems, SOFCs
Available online xxx running with high temperatures are emerging as a frontrunner in chemical to electrical
transformation efficiency, allows the engagement of all-embracing fuel varieties with
Keywords: negligible environmental impact. This study investigates the effect of ammonia usage in
Numerical modeling tubular SOFC performance. Firstly, the use of ammonia and hydrogen in the electrolyte-
Tubular SOFC supported SOFC (ES-SOFC) has investigated. Then, the effect of using ammonia in anode-
Ammonia supported SOFC (AS-SOFC), ES-SOFC and cathode-supported SOFC (CSeSOFC) on perfor-
Hydrogen mance has been examined by using COMSOL software. As a result of the study performed,
it is found that the ammonia can be used in tubular SOFC's as a carbon-free fuel and CS-
SOFC shows better performance compared with ES-SOFC and AS-SOFC. Besides, the find-
ings of this study indicate that the use of ammonia as a fuel for SOFCs is comparable to the
use of hydrogen.
© 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: ilbas@gazi.edu.tr (M. Ilbas).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.04.060
0360-3199/© 2020 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Ilbas M et al., Numerical investigation of a direct ammonia tubular solid oxide fuel cell in comparison with
hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.04.060
2 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

delivered to its electrodes. This is a unique characteristic of

Nomenclature fuel cell that distinguishes its working condition from a bat-
tery which is a storage form of energy and becomes discarded
E open-circuit voltage, V
after a finite working period.
F Faraday constant, 96485 C/mol
Solid oxide fuel cells are one type of electrochemical device
J Current density, A/m2
that changes the fuel's chemical energy directly into elec-
J0 Exchange current density, A/m2
tricity efficiently without intermediate products through the
P Partial pressure of components, Pa
combination of numerous fuels (gaseous or gasified, liquid)
R Universal gas constant, 8.343 J/mol.K
with an oxidant mainly air [2]. They are the ultimate stimu-
rNH3 Rate of component decomposition, mol/m2.s
lating of the all-ceramic device for green power generation
Vcell Actual cell voltage, V
that runs at a temperature range of 500 to 1000οC [3,4]. Besides,
Greek Symbols they have high efficiency, essay scalability, the flexibility of
a Transfer coefficient fuel, has no movable parts, provide high waste heat quality
hact Activation overpotential, V that can be recuperated through cogeneration, and built-in
hohm Ohmic overpotential, V different sizes with zero pollutants and greenhouse gases
m Gas dynamic viscosity of fluid, N/m.s emission when carbon-free fuels are applied [5e8]. For these
r Density, kg/m3 reasons, they are receiving more thoughtfulness.
Nowadays, different fuels (hydrocarbons, ammonia,
Subscripts
hydrogen, natural gas, biogas, methanol and ethanol) have
0 Standard or parameter at equilibrium
been all investigated as possible fuels for fuel cells [9]. Among
conditions
them, hydrogen is a perfect fuel choice from environmental
a Anode
outlooks and energy density yet production, deposition, and
c Cathode
distribution allied snags are still the critical issues that ought
eff Effective
to be researched [8,10e16]. That's why, numerous models of
rev Reversible
ammonia powered SOFCs have been explored whereas most
Abbreviations of them were concentrated on planar design. In line with this,
AS-SOFC Anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell Ni [12] has been developed a 2D thermo-electrochemical
CS-SOFC Cathode-supported solid oxide fuel cell model for planar SOFC powered with NH3 to examine the
ES-SOFC Electrolyte-supported solid oxide fuel cell electrochemical reactions, thermal breakdown of NH3, fuel
NiO-YSZ Nickel oxide- Yttria stabilizied zirconia flow rate, mass and heat transfer. The finding of the study
SOFCs Solid oxide fuel cells realized that higher electrical output is achieved when the
TPB Triple-phase boundary NH3 fuelled SOFC inlet temperature is raising nonetheless the
YSZ Yttria stabilizied zirconia gradient near to the inlet of SOFC is meaningfully higher.
Besides, their work realized that the performance of NH3
powered SOFCs is slightly declining when the velocity of inlet
gas increases from 1m/s to 10m/s yet the temperature field is
not considerably affected.
Introduction Kishimoto et al. [17] have been investigated the dissemi-
nation of temperature, species, flow and electrochemical
Energy is one of the ultimate prerequisite tools to bring sus- amounts within the cell using a 2D numerical model for NH3
tainable economic development and improve citizen's quality fuelled planar SOFC. Their outcomes disclosed that SOFC
of life for any country. A few decades ago, speedy in- fuelled with direct and pre-decomposed NH3 has comparable
dustrializations, growing of inhabitants and urbanizations performance. Besides, Tan [18] has been developed a 3D nu-
have a huge pressure on crude oil, coal, and other carbons rich merical simulation for planar SOFCs employing internal
fuels, which is finite. Consequently, fossil fuel consumption is cracking of NH3 as the fuel to investigate its performances.
snowballing and the upsurge in carbon-rich fuel demands is The finding of the study disclosed that the underprivileged
leading to rapid fossil fuel reserve depletion [1]. Moreover, distribution of current density is mainly caused by the un-
carbons rich fuels are the principal source of greenhouse derprivileged distribution of gas concentration in the air
gases which resulting in a destructive impact on the envi- electrode conduit.
ronment. For this reason, finding an alternative green and Farhad and Hamdullahpur [19] have been studied on
clean renewable source of energy is unquestionable re- ammonia supplied anode supported 3D planar SOFC. The
sponsibilities for a researcher to upgrade the energy system, experimental outcomes revealed that 0.8 liters of NH3 can
advance their efficiency and diminishing the obliteration of offer a continuous power nearly for ten hours using a 100 W
the environment. SOFC at the operating voltage of 0.73 V and 800  C. This is for
Fuel cells are dirt free and efficient electrochemical tech- the reason that ammonia is easily cracked at raised tem-
nologies deployed for direct transformation of fuel's chemical peratures. Moreover, Ma et al. [20] have been fabricated SOFC
energy into electricity without intermediate products by supplied with direct commercial liquefied NH3 to investigate
bringing together the fuel and an oxidant. They can be the cell performance at a temperature of 600  C and 750  C.
potentially deployed in miscellaneous applications and works The outcomes of the study disclosed that the uppermost
continuously as far as fuel and oxygen or air as oxidant are power density of the cell supplied with ammonia was

Please cite this article as: Ilbas M et al., Numerical investigation of a direct ammonia tubular solid oxide fuel cell in comparison with
hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.04.060
 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx
recorded as 355 mW/cm2 at 700  C and with hydrogen was
371 and 324 mW/cm2 with pure oxygen and air, respectively
at the same temperature. Additionally, Ma et al. [21] have
been also performed an experimental investigation of AS-
SOFCs powered with liquid ammonia using 30 mm thin-film
YSZ electrolyte. The conclusion of the study is confirming
that the power densities were 299 mW/cm2 at 750  C which is
lowered than the value reported by [20] and 526 mW/cm2 at
850  C which is sensitive to high temperature. Moreover,
Dekker and Rietveld [22] have been developed AS- and ES-
SOFC supplied with NH3 to examine the cell voltage as a
function of current, temperature and NH3 flow. The outcome
of the study realized that electrical cell efficiency powered
with ammonia is increased by 13% compared with dry
hydrogen. Ammonia powered SOFCs are comparatively
suitable than carbon-containing fuels. This is often as a
result of fuel humidification is not compulsory to protect
carbon deposition and less cathode flow is possible due to the
endothermic nature of ammonia cracking. Connecting with
this, Shy et al. [23] have been examined the performance of
power and electrochemical impedance of AS-SOFC fuelled
with pressurized NH3 at diverse pressures and temperatures.
Their results proved that the power densities of ammonia
powered SOFCs are improving linearly and virtually equiva-
lent to hydrogen when the temperatures and pressures of
ammonia are increasing.
Liu et al. [24] have been examined the performance of SOFC
powered with pure liquid methanol in comparison with NH3
and H2 fuels. The result disclosed that the peak power den-
sities were found as 870 mW/cm2, 698 mW/cm2, and 467 mW/
cm2 for H2, methanol, and NH3, respectively at 650  C. Differ-
ently, Meng et al. [25] have been conducted a performance
comparative study on a nickel-based AS-SOFC powered with
H2 and NH3. The uppermost power density for hydrogen and
direct ammonia as the fuel were found as 1190 mW/cm2 and
1872 mW/cm2, correspondingly at 650  C. Even though the
cathode component and electrolyte thickness are different,
the performance of liquid ammonia supplied SOFC is superior
to the methanol which is differing from the report of Liu et al.
[24]. As well, contrary to the previous work, this study
revealed that hydrogen has better performance with a sig-
nificant difference over ammonia at the corresponding tem-
perature. Besides, the power density variation of ammonia is
considerably large at lowered working temperatures over
hydrogen supplied cells. This is often because cracking of
ammonia is an endothermic reaction that makes the actual
cell temperature is dropped than the thermocouple reading.
However, up to nowadays, the power densities were the
maximum among the informed in the literature. This is may
be interconnected with electrolyte thickness and its ionic
conductivities.
Zhang et al. [26] have been manufactured AS-(NiO-YSZ)
tube by extrusion method with 15 mm thin YSZ electrolytes by
coating onto the anode substrate by a vacuum-assisted dip-
coating method. The results realized that the uppermost
power density of straight ammonia supplied cells was
200 mW/cm2 at 800  C without NOx emissions which are
virtually the same with the hydrogen-powered cell (202 mW/
Please cite this article as: Ilbas M et al., Numerical investigation of a direct ammonia tubular solid oxide fuel cell in comparison with
hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.04.060
3
cm2). In line with this, Wojcik et al. [10] have been conducted
an experimental work on direct ammonia fed tubular SOFCS
using a YSZ electrolyte, Ag, and Pt electrodes with or without
packed bed iron catalyst at 800  C. Their studies realized that
the achievement of NH3 powered SOFCs using Pt electrode
without any catalyst is virtually the same that of H2 powered
SOFCs. Nevertheless, Pt is awfully overpriced thence it is un-
viable for commercialization. As well, Hajimolana et al. [27]
have developed a dynamic model of ammonia powered
tubular SOFCs to investigate the ammonia cracking reaction,
electrochemical reactions, diffusion, transport (heat and mass
transfer), electrodes activation, and concentration over-
potential. They were also considered the effects of design
parameters on cell performance by considering the fuel-cell-
tube temperature, dynamic output voltage and efficiency
connected with the pressure of inflow fuel using different
values. The outcome of their study disclosed that the inside
cell tube diameter has the sturdiest impacts on cell efficiency
among the considered parameters in the study. On the
opposite hand, cathodic porosity has a higher impact on cell
performance compared with anodic porosity.
Milad et al. [28] have been made a techno-economic com-
parison of AS, ES and CS-SOFCs. Their findings illustrate that
when power is taken as the only objective function the CS has
a maximum power density whereas when considering the
materials cost as an objective function, the ES-SOFC is ob-
tained to be the optimal choice.
Several studies regarding experimental and numerical
modeling of SOFC's are mentioned above. There are also
numerous studies on mathematical modeling of AS-, ES- and
CSeSOFC using hydrogen and hydrocarbon fuels. Among
them, tubular SOFC has higher volumetric power density,
mechanical stability, high thermal shocking resistance, and
no sealing issue problems. However, there is very little done
on tubular SOFC powered with direct ammonia as a green fuel
source. Therefore, in this work, a numerical investigation of a
tubular solid oxide fuel cell running on direct ammonia in
comparison with hydrogen was studied to investigate the
performance of the ammonia fuelled cells. In addition, AS-,
ES- and CS-SOFCs have been developed to determine which
types of self-supported cell is superior in performance to use
ammonia as a carbon-free fuel in tubular SOFCs. And also, the
best-performed configuration is carefully chosen for further
experimental investigations.
Modeling
In this paper, a 3D numerical model was developed to use
ammonia as the primary fuel in tubular SOFC using COMSOL
Multiphysics 5.3a software according to the Batteries and Fuel
Cells Module present in the program. Besides, the perfor-
mance of ammonia is comparing with that of hydrogen in
anode-, electrolyte- and cathode supports of tubular SOFC
configuration. The geometry used in the SOFC analysis is
shown in Fig. 1 and the geometrical, input parameters and
operating conditions are given in Table 1 and Table 2
correspondingly.
4 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 1 e Schematic of the tubular SOFC model.

uniform in each subsystem and every direction, the viscosity

Table 1 e Parameters used in SOFC structure.
of the fluid in each subsystem are the same. As well, during
Dimension ES-SOFC AS-SOFC CS-SOFC fuel and airflow via the systems, it is presumed that hydrogen/
Size ammonia and oxygen consumption will not significantly
Anode thickness 50 mm 100 mm 50 mm
reduce their densities, there is no direct oxidation of ammonia
Electrolyte thickness 100 mm 50 mm 50 mm hence only hydrogen take apart in electrochemical reaction,
Cathode thickness 50 mm 50 mm 100 mm airflow is incompressible and ideal, operate at steady state,
Inside diameter 2.1 mm the fluid properties are fixed and chemical reactions do not
Cell length 30 cm occur in both conduits. The governing equations for charge
carriers, species, momentum, energy, concentration and
mass conservation coupled with the electrochemical reaction
Table 2 e Input parameters and operating conditions. of ammonia are expressed in Table 3 as follows.
Ammonia decomposes into H2 and N2 over Ni catalyst at an
Property Value
elevated temperature through endothermic reactions with a
Inlet Temperature 800  C heat reaction of 46 kJ/mol when supplied to the anode side of a
Initial cell polarization 0.05 V
cell. Then, H2 is oxidized by oxygen ions and H2O is formed at
Anode permeability 1e-10m2
the anode as presented in, equations (1)e(4)s correspondingly.
Cathode permeability 1e-10m2
Anode Equilibrium voltage 0V
Cathode Equilibrium voltage 0.8 V Anode reaction: 2NH3/N2þ3H2 (1)
Reference diffusivity 3.16e-8 m2/s
Porosity 0.35 H2þO2/H2Oþ2e (2)
Anode inlet composition Pure ammonia gas
Cathode inlet composition Air (21% O2, 79% N2)
Cathode reaction: O2þ4e/O2 (3)

Cell reaction: 4NH3þ3O2 /2N2þ6H2O (4)

Model assumptions and boundary conditions
COMSOL Multiphysics is used for modelling, numerical
formulation and simulation that has a default boundary
conditions under Battery and Fuel cells module. However,
some of the basic boundary conditions were taken under
consideration are nonslip conditions for velocity at the
impermeable wall, the boundary layers for gas flow are
negligible compared with the corresponding radius, at the end
of electrodes and electrolyte the flux is zero, at the electrode or
gas channel interface the potential and species concentra-
tions are presumed uniform, the partial derivative of the
variable at the boundary is zero since it considered as well
insulated, the electric potential at the fuel and the air side
interconnect is zero and at the base of the interconnect the
current density is constant whereas the main assumptions
were applied in this study are the distribution of temperature
in each subsystem is constant because of very small size, the
velocities of the fluid and the partial pressures are averagely
In this mode, ammonia is assumed to be decomposed
thermally at the surface of the porous anode with Ni catalyst
at the operating temperatures according to the Tamaru
model. This is because the operating temperature is high
hence it does not consider the inhibition effect of hydrogen on
ammonia decomposition rate. Hence, when PNH3 is the partial
pressure of ammonia, the rate of ammonia decomposition
(rNH3) is determined according to Ni [12] as presented below.


196200:0
rNH3 ¼ 4:0x1015 exp  PNH3 (5)
RT
Since ammonia is assumed to be cracked before entering
into the triple-phase boundary (TPB), diffusion of NH3, H2O
and N2 into the anode are insignificant hence only H2 gas
diffuses into the anode. Moreover, the consumption rate of
hydrogen and oxygen by electrochemical reactions and the
water produced as a byproduct of electrochemical reaction are
given as follows:

Please cite this article as: Ilbas M et al., Numerical investigation of a direct ammonia tubular solid oxide fuel cell in comparison with
hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.04.060
 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx 5

Table 3 e Governing equations.

Continuity Equation vðεeff rÞ vðεeff rui Þ
þ ¼ Sm
vt vxi
" !#
Momentum Equation vðreff ui Þ vðreff uj ui Þ vP v vui vuj
þ ¼  þ meff þ þ Sdi
vt vxj vxi vxj vxj vxi
" !#
Energy Equation vðrCp TÞ vðεrCp TÞ v vT vT
þ ui ¼ k þ þ ST
vt vxi vxj eff vxj vxi
" !#
Mass Equation vðrCk Þ v v vCk vCk
þ ðgrui Ck Þ ¼ rDkeff þ
vt vxi vxi vxj vxi

J J J
rH2 ¼ rO2 ¼ rH2O ¼ (6)
2F 4F 2F
The reversible potential is a function of temperature and
the partial pressures of hydrogen, oxygen and water vapor at
the reaction sites. Hence, where p is the partial pressure of
species at the TPB, the reversible open-circuit voltage (Erev) of
the fuel cell is given by the Nernst Equation as follows:
"  0:5 #
RT PH2;a PO2 ;c
Erev ¼ E þ
0
ln   (7)
nF PH2O;a

Furthermore, the partial pressure of the gas, activation

(resistance of electrochemical reaction) concentration (resis-
tance of mass transport) and ohmic (resistance of electronic
and ionic charge transfer) losses are the dominant factors that
determine the cell voltage output. As a result, the actual cell Fig. 2 e The polarization curve comparison between the
voltage (Vcell) is always less than its ideal open-circuit voltage numerical value and experimental results for model
as shown in Eq. (8). validation [10,14].
Vcell ¼ E  hact;a  hact;c  hohm (8)

An activation over-potential is the power loss happening in
a fuel cell because of electrode kinetics irreversibilities. The
current density(J) at the electrode-electrolyte interface and the
activation over potential relationship is expressed by the
Butler-Volmer electrochemical equations:



2aFhact;i ð1  aÞ2Fhact;i
J ¼ J0;i exp  exp  ; i ¼ a; c (9)
RT RT
where ais the transfer coefficient, J0 is the exchange current
density at the anode and cathode.
Results and discussions
This study presents the performance of tubular SOFC powered
by ammonia in comparison with hydrogen. This model is
validated with experimental results of Wojcik et al. [10] on
tubular SOFC running with direct ammonia using Pt and Ag
anode electrodes with and without iron bed packed catalyst at
800  C and Fuerte et al. [14] tested a 200 mm thick electrolyte at
800  C. This is because there is very limited tubulated exper-
imental work performed for ammonia powered tubular SOFC
configuration in literature. As can be obviously seen from
Fig. 2, it revealed that the numerical polarization curve is
agreeing with the experimental values of Wojcik et al. [10]. But
even if it is slightly different from experimental values of
Fuerte et al., the slope is in the same trend. This difference is
because of the thickness of the electrolyte layer. Therefore,
the performance of ammonia powered tubular SOFC provides
an energetic opportunity to use ammonia as an alternative
green fuel for different applications using electrochemical
devices in the near future. Different studies have been
confirmed that cathode-supported ammonia powered tubular
SOFC has considerable performance over hydrogen under
similar working environments. However, according to this
study, cathode supported tubular SOFC powered with
ammonia as the primary fuel is obtained as superior from
electrolyte supported tubular SOFC.
Fig. 3(a) and (b) shows the polarization curve and the
power output as a function of voltage for ammonia as a direct
fuel for ES-SOFC correspondingly. As can be seen from Fig. 3,
the ohmic losses are high and declining vertically when pure
ammonia is fuelled at the anode and the air electrode is
supplied with moist atmospheric air at 800  C which results
in low power density. Therefore, to increase the power and
current densities of ES-SOFC, increasing the active surface
area of electrodes that are imperative to enhance the elec-
trochemical reactions or working temperature. An active
surface area is the area in which the electrochemical reac-
tion carried on at the electrode-electrolyte interface. This is

Please cite this article as: Ilbas M et al., Numerical investigation of a direct ammonia tubular solid oxide fuel cell in comparison with
hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.04.060
6 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 3 e The power output (a) and polarization curve (b) for fuelled ammonia (c) oxygen mole fraction.

because large surface areas encourage more reaction sites
and the temperatures enhance the ion conductivity of the
electrolyte, in turn, minimizes the ohmic loss. Moreover,
depletion of oxygen is substantial compared with ammonia
even if the mole fraction of ammonia is also decreased along
the channel as depicted in Fig. 3(c). And also, the Cathode
electrode is the main causes of activation and concentration
overpotential because the rate of oxygen reduction at the
cathode is slower than the rate of hydrogen oxidation reac-
tion at the anode. Similar to activation overpotential, the
main source of concentration polarization is again the
cathode. This is due to the oxygen diffusivity is meaningfully
lower than that of hydrogen due to the larger oxygen mole-
cule size. Hence, the concentration of oxygen should be
increased to enhance power generation.
As well, Fig. 4 proves the performance comparison be-
tween ammonia and hydrogen-fuelled tubular SOFC in terms
of polarization curve and power density working in similar
conditions which confirms that ammonia has virtually the
same performance that of hydrogen. Yet the observed slight
difference is due to the decomposition of ammonia into free
hydrogen is strongly reliant on temperature before entering to
electrochemical reactions. As well, ammonia is more chal-
lenging to oxidize than hydrogen, which causes ammonia to
produce less power over hydrogen fuel cells. Hence, a slightly
increasing reaction temperature makes the ammonia
decomposition faster.
Fig. 5 shows the effect of operating temperature on the
performance of ES-SOFC and polarization curve for fuelled
ammonia.

Fig. 4 e The performance comparisons between ammonia and hydrogen-powered tubular ES-SOFC.

Please cite this article as: Ilbas M et al., Numerical investigation of a direct ammonia tubular solid oxide fuel cell in comparison with
hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.04.060
 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx 7

Fig. 5 e The temperature effect on power performance (a) and polarization curve (b) of ES-SOFC for fuelled ammonia.

As can be obviously seen from Fig. 5, the temperature has
a prodigious effect on tubular ammonia powered SOFCs.
The results of a model are compared with different tem-
peratures (600,700,800,900, 1000  C). The simulation results
confirmed that the ammonia powered tubular SOFC has
been given a maximum powered at 1000  C. As the tem-
perature increases, the average power and the polarization
curves are enhanced. This is because the conductivity of the
electrolyte is improving and the ohmic resistances are
considerably reduced at high temperatures. Moreover, at a
higher temperature, the performance of the fuel cell is
increased. This is because the performance of diffusivities,
activation energies and ionic conductivities are enhancing
at high temperatures. The working temperatures are the
most significant factors that affect the reaction kinetics and
ionic conductivity of the electrolyte. This is because the
reaction kinetic is faster and more current is produced at a
higher temperature. Yet at a higher temperature, the
leakage of current via the electrolyte is more dominant.
Fig. 6 shows the performance comparisons when the
anode is inside diameter and outside diameter of ES-SOFC and
polarization curve for fuelled ammonia.
According to the finding of this work, the position of the
anode is playing a great roll in power performance and po-
larization curves. As can be clearly seen in Fig. 6, the perfor-
mance of the ammonia powered tubular SOFC is higher when
the location of the anode is in the outside diameter compared
with the inside one. This is maybe related to the concentration
of oxygen is increasing when the cathode compartment is
becoming in the inside part of the tub. Yet when the location
of the anode is in the inside part of the tub, there may be high
concentrations loss due to low diffusion at the cathode.
The performance of SOFC fuelled ammonia for different
supported values when the anode is inside diameter is given
in Fig. 7 (a) and the polarization curve is given in Fig. 7 (b). The
maximum power for AS-SOFC, ES-SOFC and CS-SOFC when
the location of anode is in the inside diameter of the tube is
3.3 W/m2, 6.5 W/m2 and 10.5 W/m2, respectively whereas

Fig. 6 e The power performance comparisons when the anode is inside diameter and outside diameter (a) and polarization
curve (b) of ES-SOFC for fuelled ammonia.

Please cite this article as: Ilbas M et al., Numerical investigation of a direct ammonia tubular solid oxide fuel cell in comparison with
hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.04.060
8 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx
Fig. 7 e The performance of SOFC (a) polarization curve (b) fuelled ammonia for AS-, ES-and CS-SOFC.
when the position of anode is in the outside parts of the tube
the maximum powered is recorded as 7.3 W/m2, 9.5 W/m2 and
11.2 W/m2, correspondingly.
As known the anode-supported planar configuration
SOFCs is found to be mechanically gentle and high electro-
chemical performance than that of the electrolyte and
cathode-supported cell. Similar to the planar structure, the
anode-supported tubular configurations of SOFCs are prefer-
able both in mechanical steadiness and electrochemical per-
formances. The failure probabilities for the anode-, cathode-,
and electrolyte-supported cells are the lowest, medium, and
highest, respectively. Yet, when comparing in terms of effi-
ciency, the cathode-supported is superior to anode and elec-
trolyte supports [8,29]. Because a cathode substrate with a
tubular geometry is an excellent marriage due to its allowance
for the cell-to-cell connections in a bundle/stack to occur in
reducing atmospheres, where inexpensive transition metals
such as Ni can be used. Furthermore, because the cathode
layer is the outermost layer, the increase in the cathode layer
thickness has been a factor that increases fuel cell perfor-
mance as it affects oxygen concentration [30]. Yet, anode layer
support is the most rampant solution due to mechanical sta-
bility, lower electrical losses over the air electrode and
electrolyte-supported cells. This is because the electrolyte-
supported has comparatively high resistance hence either
high temperatures or high ionic conductive electrolyte appli-
cation is compulsory to decline such resistance whereas the
cathode-supported are difficult for fabrication due to high
sintering temperature requirement.
Conclusions
Today, the most resounding challenges we are fronting are the
production of pollution-free energy and combating climate
changes. Whilst introducing the economy of hydrogen has
abundant merits for stationary, mobile and transportation
applications yet production, onboard hydrogen storing and
transportation infrastructure-related problems are still the
most barriers for implementation. On the contrary, hydrogen
Please cite this article as: Ilbas M et al., Numerical investigation of a direct ammonia tubular solid oxide fuel cell in comparison with
hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.04.060
can be deposited in ammonia, methanol, ethanol and other
related hydrogen contained chemical forms which deployed
as a possible choice energy vector. Among them, ammonia is
the cheapest carbon-neutral energy sources and has more
stored energy than hydrogen. Therefore, the result revealed
that ammonia is found as a promising and price-effective dirt
free and green alternative fuel for tubular SOFC to alleviate
energy starvation, greenhouse emissions, and hydrogen
storage challenges we are fronting.
Solid oxide fuel cells are well-thought-out as primary as-
pirants for future stationery and disseminated power sys-
tems. Their comparatively high-temperature setup allows the
utilization of an all-embracing variety of fuels. Today, tubular
configurations are the most advanced designs of SOFCs that
can be distinguished as anode, electrolyte and cathode sup-
port. According to this work, cathode supported has high
performance over anode-and electrolyte supported operating
at similar conditions. This is because ohmic polarization is
decreasing as electrolyte thickness becomes thinner. This is
often thanks to tubular SOFCs powered with direct ammonia
has higher volumetric power density, mechanical stability,
high thermal shocking resistance, and no sealing issue prob-
lems. Besides, the performance comparison between
hydrogen and ammonia as fuel confirmed that ammonia is a
very promising alternative fuel for electrochemical devices.
Among them, anode layer support is the most rampant solu-
tion due to mechanical stability, and lower electrical losses
over the air electrode and electrolyte-supported cells. This is
because the electrolyte-supported has comparatively high
resistance hence either high temperatures or high ionic
conductive electrolyte application is compulsory to decline
such resistance whereas the cathode-supported are difficult
for fabrication due to high sintering temperature requirement.
Besides, it is portable that can be worked everywhere when
there is energy demand.
The temperature has a prodigious effect on tubular
ammonia powered SOFCs. The simulation results confirmed
that the ammonia powered tubular SOFC has been given a
maximum power at1000  C. As the temperature increases, the
average power and the polarization curves are enhanced. This
 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx
is because the conductivity of the electrolyte is improving and
the ohmic resistances are considerably reduced at high
temperatures.
According to the finding of this work, the position of the
anode is playing a great roll in power performance and po-
larization curves. This is maybe related to the concentration
of oxygen is increasing when the cathode compartment is
becoming in the inside part of the tube. Yet when the location
of the anode is in the inside part of the tube, there may be high
concentrations loss due to low diffusion at the cathode.
Acknowledgements
We gratefully acknowledge the Nigde Omer Halisdemir Uni-
versity, Department of Mechanical Engineering for allowing
us to use their computer ansd software facilities.
references
[1] Mert SO, Ozcelik Z, Dincer I. Comparative assessment and
optimization of fuel cells. Int J Hydrogen Energy
2015;40:7835e45. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.ijhydene.2014.11.050.
[2] Kakaç S, Pramuanjaroenkij A, Zhou XY. A review of
numerical modeling of solid oxide fuel cells. Int J Hydrogen
Energy 2007;32:761e86. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.ijhydene.2006.11.028.
[3] Atkinson A, Barnett S, Gorte RJ, Irvine JTS, McEvoy AJ,
Mogensen M, Singhal SC, Vohs J. Advanced anodes for high-
temperature fuel cells. Nat Mater 2004;3:17e27. https://
doi.org/10.1038/nmat1040.
[4] Janardhanan VM, Deutschmann O. Modeling of solid-oxide
fuel cells. Z Phys Chem 2007;221:443e78.
[5] Alyousef Y, Kendall K. Characterization of the
electrochemical performance of micro-tubular solid oxide
fuel cell (SOFC). J Taibah Univ Sci 2009;2:14e21. https://
doi.org/10.1016/S1658-3655(12)60003-X.
[6] Sammes NM, Boersma R. Small-scale fuel cells for residential
applications. J Power Sources 2000;86:98e110. https://doi.org/
10.1016/S0378-7753(99)00415-2.
[7] Singhal SC. Advances in solid oxide fuel cell technology.
Solid State Ionics 2000;135:305e13. https://doi.org/10.1016/
S0167-2738(00)00452-5.
[8] Ilbas M, Kumuk B. Numerical modelling of a cathode-
supported solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) in comparison with an
electrolyte-supported model. J Energy Inst 2019;92:682e92.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.joei.2018.03.004.
[9] Ilbas M, Kumuk B. Modeling and analysis of a model solid
oxide fuel cell running on low calorific value coal gases. Int J
Hydrogen Energy 2020;45:3577e83. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.ijhydene.2019.01.286.
[10] Wojcik A, Middleton H, Damopoulos I, Herle JV. Ammonia as
a fuel in solid oxide fuel cells. J Power Sources
2003;118:342e8. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0378-7753(03)00083-
1.
[11] Afif A, Radenahmad N, Cheok Q, Shams S, Kim JH, Azad AK.
Ammonia-fed fuel cells: a comprehensive review. Renew
Sustain Energy Rev 2016;60:822e35. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.rser.2016.01.120.
[12] Ni M. Thermo-electrochemical modeling of ammonia-fueled
solid oxide fuel cells considering ammonia thermal
Please cite this article as: Ilbas M et al., Numerical investigation of a direct ammonia tubular solid oxide fuel cell in comparison with
hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.04.060
9
decomposition in the anode. Int J Hydrogen Energy
2011;36(4):3153e66. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.ijhydene.2010.11.100.
[13] Makepeace JW, He T, Weidenthaler C, Jensen TR, Chang F,
Vegge T, Ngene P, Kojima Y, Jongh PE, Chen P, David WIF.
Reversible ammonia-based and liquid organic hydrogen
carriers for high-density hydrogen storage: recent progress.
Int J Hydrogen Energy 2019;44:7746e67. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.01.144.
[14] Fuerte A, Valenzuela RX, Escudero MJ, Daza L. Ammonia as
efficient fuel for SOFC. J Power Sources 2009;192:170e4.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2008.11.037.
[15] Cheddie D. Ammonia as a hydrogen source for fuel cells: a
review. Hydrogen Energy - Chall Perspect 2012. https://
doi.org/10.5772/47759.
[16] Lipman T, Shah N. Ammonia as an alternative energy
storage medium for hydrogen fuel cells: scientific and
technical review for near-term stationary power
demonstration projects. final report Inst Transp Stud Res
Reports Work Pap Proc 2007;1:1e25.
[17] Kishimoto M, Kume T, Iwai H, Yoshida H. Numerical analysis
of ammonia-fueled planar solid oxide fuel cells. ECS Trans
2017;78:2845e53. https://doi.org/10.1149/07801.2845ecst.
[18] Tan WY. Numerical simulation on the performance of a solid
oxide fuel cell with direct ammonia internal decomposition.
Energy Sources, Part A Recover Util Environ Eff
2014;36:2410e9. https://doi.org/10.1080/
15567036.2011.569837.
[19] Farhad S, Hamdullahpur F. Conceptual design of a novel
ammonia-fuelled portable solid oxide fuel cell system. J
Power Sources 2010;195:3084e90. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.jpowsour.2009.11.115.
[20] Ma Q, Peng RR, Tian L, Meng G. Direct utilization of ammonia
in intermediate-temperature solid oxide fuel cells.
Electrochem Commun 2006;8:1791e5. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.elecom.2006.08.012.
[21] Ma Q, Ma J, Zhou S, Yan R, Gao J, Meng G. A high-
performance ammonia-fueled SOFC based on a YSZ thin-
film electrolyte. J Power Sources 2007;164(1):86e9. https://
doi.org/10.1016/j.jpowsour.2006.09.093.
[22] Dekker NJJ, Rietveld G. Highly efficient conversion of
ammonia in electricity by solid oxide fuel cells. J Fuel Cell Sci
Technol 2006;3:499e502. https://doi.org/10.1115/1.2349536.
[23] Shy SS, Hsieh SC, Chang HY. A pressurized ammonia-fueled
anode-supported solid oxide fuel cell: power performance
and electrochemical impedance measurements. J Power
Sources 2018;396:80e7. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.jpowsour.2018.06.006.
[24] Liu M, Peng R, Dong D, Gao J, Liu X, Meng G. Direct liquid
methanol-fueled solid oxide fuel cell. J Power Sources
2008;185:188e92. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.jpowsour.2018.06.006.
[25] Meng G, Jiang C, Ma J, Ma Q, Liu X. Comparative study on the
performance of a SDC-based SOFC fueled by ammonia and
hydrogen. J Power Sources 2007;173:189e93. https://doi.org/
10.1016/j.jpowsour.2007.05.002.
[26] Limin Z, You C, Weishen Y, Liwu LIN. A direct ammonia
tubular solid oxide fuel cell. Chin J Catal 2007;28(9):749e51.
[27] Hajimolana SA, Hussain MA, Daud WMAW, Chakrabarti MH.
Dynamic modelling and sensitivity analysis of a tubular
SOFC fuelled with NH3 as a possible replacement for H2.
Chem Eng Res Des 2012;90:1871e82. https://doi.org/10.1016/
j.cherd.2012.03.004.
[28] Ebadi C, Mahmoudimehr J. Techno-economic comparison of
anode-supported, cathode-supported, and electrolyte-
supported SOFCs. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2018;43:15521e30.
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.06.114.
10 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

[29] Fang X, Zhu J, Lin Z. Effects of electrode composition and [30] Huang K, Singhal SC. Cathode-supported tubular solid oxide
thickness on the mechanical performance of a solid oxide fuel cell technology: a critical review. J Power Sources
fuel cell. Energies 2018;11(7):1735. https://doi.org/10.3390/ 2013;237:84e97. https://doi.org/10.1016/
en11071735. j.jpowsour.2013.03.001.

Please cite this article as: Ilbas M et al., Numerical investigation of a direct ammonia tubular solid oxide fuel cell in comparison with
hydrogen, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.04.060