Worldwide SOFC technology overview and benchmark

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are generally considered to be a promising future electricity-generation technology due to their high electrical efficiency. They also display a multi-fuel capability (hydrogen, carbon monoxide, methane, etc.), may play a role in carbon sequestration strategies, and may render the highest electricity generation efficiency in power station design if coupled with a gas turbine. Nevertheless, their development still faces various problems with high-temperature materials, design of cost-effective materials and manufacturing processes, and efficient plant design. This article summarizes world wide efforts in the field of SOFC, presenting an overview of the main SOFC designs and the main developers active in this field. Based on data published in proceedings of international conferences during the last few years, a comparison is made of the results achieved in cell, stack, and system development.