The University of Tokyo · Materials Science
Professor Kalimuthu Selvam's research lab specializes in advanced energy systems, with a primary focus on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) and their integration with advanced thermodynamic cycles. The lab investigates high-efficiency, low-emission power generation through innovative SOFC configurations such as dead-end anode (DEA) systems, internal reforming, and 100% fuel utilization. Key research directions include optimizing system performance using diverse fuels—hydrogen, ammonia, natural gas, and biofuels—through energy and exergy analysis, and exploring advanced bottoming cycles like ultrasupercritical steam and supercritical CO2 cycles to maximize efficiency. The lab also emphasizes sustainable energy conversion by improving fuel flexibility and minimizing exergy destruction in SOFC systems.
Figures are computed from collected data and may differ slightly.
In the present study, the effects of the fuel reforming process and bottoming cycle steam parameters on the design point: energy efficiency/power output of large-scale solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) combined systems are investigated. The fuel reforming processes considered in this study are adiabatic steam reforming (ASR), partial oxidation reforming (POX), and autothermal reforming (ATR). For the bottoming cycles, subcritical (SubC), supercritical (SupC), ultrasupercritical (USC), and advanced ul
The present study deals with performance analyses of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems combined with various bottoming cycles. The SOFC considered in the study is fueled with natural gas reformed via direct internal reforming by anode gas recirculation. For bottoming cycles, subcritical steam cycle (SubC), supercritical steam cycle (SupC), ultra-supercritical steam cycle (USC), advanced ultra-supercritical steam cycle (A-USC), and the supercritical CO2 cycle (sCO2) are investigated. The resul
The conventional solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) systems fueled with hydrogen or ammonia always underperform in comparison to the SOFCs fueled with hydrocarbon fuels. This paper deals with the energy and exergy based studies of novel 100% fuel utilization SOFC systems achieved by 100% recycling of anode off-gas (referred to as dead-end anode, DEA). The results show that the energy efficiency of H2 fueled and NH3 fueled SOFC systems can reach efficiencies as high as 67.22 % and 72.52 % LHV, respecti
Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) are known for their fuel flexibility and high energy conversion efficiency. Hydrogen is one of the ideal fuels for SOFC; however, a SOFC system fueled with pure hydrogen or ammonia always underperforms in comparison to those fueled with hydrocarbon fuels. This paper deals with thermodynamic analyses of novel dead-end anode (DEA) SOFC systems. Particularly, the impact of fuel types on the system’s efficiency is systematically studied with hydrogen, ammonia, methanol
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