Electrochemical Modeling and Performance Assessment of H₂S/Air Solid Oxide Fuel Cell

Hydrogen sulfide (H₂S) is an abundantly present, corrosive, and noxious compound. Though the Claus process is effective in processing H₂S, it extracts minimal energy from H₂S. Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) can harvest the chemical energy of H₂S to generate electric power. For practical implementations, the performance of H₂S/air SOFCs and the potential losses in the system are determined. The present study aims to develop the complete electrochemical model of H₂S/air SOFC system and to analyze its performance. The theoretical cell potential of H₂S/air SOFC is determined, and the deviations from the theoretical cell potential due to polarization are studied. According to the results, H₂S/air SOFC generates electric power with energetic, exergetic, and voltaic efficiencies of 59.0%, 43.0%, and 89.7%, respectively, at atmospheric pressure and a temperature of 1100 K. Further efficiencies can be achieved if the output heat is utilized for useful applications. Moreover, the SO₂ formed by the electrochemical reactions in SOFC can be recovered as elemental sulfur or sulfuric acid as an additional useful commodity. In brief, this study demonstrates the performance of H₂S/air SOFC to serve as a basis for the implementation of H₂S/air SOFC toward eliminating the environmental impact of H₂S and converting it into electric power.