F1330 Journal of The Electrochemical Society, 161 (14) F1330-F1339 (2014) 0013-4651/2014/161(14)/F1330/10/$31.00 © The Electrochemical Society Kinetic Characterization and Molten KOH Fuel Cell Simulation for Dissolved

Nickel, nickel-chromium alloy and nickel-aluminum alloy electrodes have been evaluated by cyclic voltammetry to explore the possibility to oxidize dissolved coal in molten KOH by means of these materials. Voltammograms, without the presence of coal in the melt, exhibit signals corresponding to nickel oxidized species which, in the presence of dissolved coal, change in intensity. These changes and the arising of new signals have been attributed to oxidation processes which involve organic molecules. The information obtained after non linear regression analysis to calculate the kinetic parameters for the anodic processes, and that extracted from literature for the cathodic ones, served to solve one proposed model for the continuous steady estate operation of a fuel cell for the oxidation of dissolved coal compounds in molten KOH. Comparison of polarization curve and maximum fuel cell power density, obtained by the fuel cell simulation, with those reported by experimental studies show that the proposed model represents the main macroscopic phenomena of this type of systems