Date of Award

6-27-2025

Date Published

August 2025

Degree Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Advisor(s)

Jeongmin Ahn

Second Advisor

Jianshun Zhang

Keywords

Alternative fuel, Ammonia, Buffer-layer, Electrochemical device, Solid oxide fuel cell

Subject Categories

Engineering | Mechanical Engineering

Abstract

In the years since humans realized that our actions could have profoundly harsh effects on the environment, we have been searching for ways to minimize our impacts, while also maintaining the same standard of living. One of the actions with such effects is power generation using fossil fuels, which has long been the largest source of energy. While efforts should be made to improve the efficiency of these power generation plants, we should also work to identify alternative opportunities for power generation without the use of fossil fuels. Some of these opportunities include hydroelectric, photovoltaic, wind, nuclear, and the combustion of alternative fuels. The last of these options, combustion of alternative fuels, is where this work will be focused. The alternative fuel which has caught the most attention is undoubtedly hydrogen gas. This is largely due to its high gravimetric energy density, making it a comparable alternative to fossil fuels. However, hydrogen has a much lower volumetric energy density, and has issues with transportation, synthesis, and storage. The use of ammonia as a hydrogen carrier has the potential to overcome some of the issues with hydrogen, while also helping to decarbonize our power generation grid. The work discussed here will look at ammonia as a fuel for use in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). The use of SOFCs in place of standard combustion processes is highly beneficial due to the absence of moving parts in the combustion reaction. They are purely electrochemical devices and can operate at lower temperatures. Ammonia has been explored by some groups as a fuel for SOFCs, but has yielded relatively low power generation. The work presented here improves upon the previous works through the use of alternative SOFC constructions, evaluate the exhaust generated, and determine the optimal conditions for power generation.

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Open Access

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