Fundamental Study on the Terrestrial Power Generation Plant Using the Alkali Metal Thermo-Electric Conversion (AMTEC)

The sodium β″-Al2O3 is one of the prime candidate as the solid state electrolyte in using the Alkali Metal Thermo-Electric Converter (AMTEC). This paper reports the properties of β″-Al2O3/ZrO2 composite electrolyte in order to improve the durability of the cell and its performance for the power generation as the AMTEC. It is shown that the addition of ZrO2 to the β″-Al2O3 is able to control the microstructure, and the fabrication procedure of the electrolyte with the ZrO2 addition is selected.

This paper also reports the new concepts of the AMTEC cells that are connected in series in order to raise generation voltage and shows that the adaptability of the AMTEC for terrestrial power generation is improved by these concept.