CO2 emission free co-generation of energy and ethylene in hydrocarbon SOFC reactors with a dehydrogenation anode

A dehydrogenation anode is reported for hydrocarbon proton conducting solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). A Cu-Cr(2)O(3) nanocomposite is obtained from CuCrO(2) nanoparticles as an inexpensive, efficient, carbon deposition and sintering tolerant anode catalyst. A SOFC reactor is fabricated using a Cu-Cr(2)O(3) composite as a dehydrogenation anode and a doped barium cerate as a proton conducting electrolyte. The protonic membrane SOFC reactor can selectively convert ethane to valuable ethylene, and electricity is simultaneously generated in the electrochemical oxidative dehydrogenation process. While there are no CO(2) emissions, traces of CO are present in the anode exhaust when the SOFC reactor is operated at over 700 °C. A mechanism is proposed for ethane electro-catalytic dehydrogenation over the Cu-Cr(2)O(3) catalyst. The SOFC reactor also has good stability for co-generation of electricity and ethylene at 700 °C.