Syngas production in high performing tubular solid oxide cells by using high-temperature H₂O/CO₂ co-electrolysis

By using electricity from renewable sources, high-temperature solid oxide co-electrolysis cells (SOCs) can perform advantageous conversion of H₂O/CO₂ to high-value syngas. In this work, we investigated the performance of tubular solid oxide co-electrolysis cells for the production of syngas by electrochemical conversion of H₂O/CO₂. The tubular solid-oxide electrolysis cells comprise Ni-yttria stabilized zirconia (Ni-YSZ) based fuel-electrode supported cells, a yttria or scandia-stabilized zirconia (YSZ and ScSZ) electrolyte, and a composite air-electrode of (La_0.85Sr_0.15)_0.9MnO₃ (LSM) and La_0.6Sr_0.4Co_0.2Fe_0.8O₃ (LSCF). The electrochemical performance of the tubular SOCs for various operating conditions was analyzed using I-V curves, EIS analysis, and gas chromatography. From the results, we confirm the correlation between the operating conditions and the electrochemical performance of the co-electrolysis process in the tubular SOCs. Furthermore, we found that the syngas yield of the ScSZ electrolyte-based SOC cell was better than that of the YSZ electrolyte-based SOC. The results show that using a tubular SOC offered highly efficient conversion of H₂O/CO₂, with high yield and good-quality syngas.