D7.1 – Durability Experiments Report

In the BeBOP project, Politecnico di Milano carried out long-term durability experiments on planar Solid Oxide Electrolyzer Cells (SOECs) supplied by ELCOGEN, feeding project-relevant gas mixtures, whose composition simulates the products of a biomass gasification reactor. The campaign, lasting 1575 hours across three operating conditions, revealed progressive performance degradation mainly associated with the Ni-YSZ fuel electrode, possibly due to carbon deposition, Ni agglomeration/depletion, or poisoning by impurities. Alongside the durability assessment, operating strategies to reach the methanol synthesis target (M = 2) were identified, providing feasible regimes for future optimization. The results highlight both the challenges of direct SOEC feeding with complex reformate, and the need for strategies to mitigate the degradation.