Project Description
M3SOFC: Multiphysics and multiscale methods for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells
M3SOFC was part of a coordinated project with two other universities.
The main goal of this coordinated project is the study of several fluid dynamics aspects (fluid motion, transport phenomena, advection, diffusion) that play a determining role in the basic physico-chemical processes occurring during the operation of some types of fuel cells (Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells, PEMFC, and Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, SOFC).
These basic processes have similar characteristics in all of them: processes involving fluids mixtures which participate in chemical reactions, with reactant supply and product evacuation by advection and diffusion; and the additional requirement of thermal control, in each case.
The project joins together the initiatives of the three participant groups (with a large experience in Fluid Mechanics), combining the capacities of preparation of materials, assembly of components, design and accomplishment of experiments, along with the accomplishment of analytical/theoretical studies on the influence of transport processes in the rate of catalytic reactions, and the implementation of numerical simulations based on Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD).
The three groups will carry out complementary studies justifying the presentation of the coordinated project that reunites in a single project the different aspects: analysis, numerical simulation and experimentation in laboratory, required for an integrated scientific research.
M3SOFC was funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación as ENE2008-06683-C03-03 Métodos multifásicos y multiescala para pilas de combustible de óxido sólido (SOFC). It ran from 01 Jan 2009 to 31 Dec 11