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A solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is an energy conversion device that has the potential to efficiently generate electricity in an environmentally-friendly manner. In general, a SOFC operates between 750&deg;C and 1000&deg;C utilizing hydrogen or hydrocarbons as fuel and air as an oxidant. The three major components comprising a fuel cell are the electrolyte, the cathode, and the anode. At present, the state-of-the-art SOFC is made from a dense yttria-stabilized zirconia (YSZ) electrolyte, a porous lanthanum manganite cathode, and a porous nickel/YSZ composite anode. With the advent of the anode-supported SOFC and the increased interest in using a wider range of fuels, such as those containing sulphur, knowledge of the anode properties is becoming more important. <br /> The properties of the current anodes are limited due to the narrow range of nickel loadings imposed by the minimum nickel content for electrical conductivity and the maximum allowable nickel loading to avoid thermal mismatch with the YSZ electrolyte. In addition, there is little research presented in the literature regarding the use of nickel metal as a starting anode material, rather than the traditional nickel oxide powder, and how porosity may affect the anode properties. <br /> The purpose of this investigation is to determine the influence nickel morphology and porosity distribution have on the processing and properties of tape cast Ni/YSZ composites. Specifically, the sintering characteristics, electrical conductivity, and thermal expansion behaviour of tape cast composites created from YSZ, nickel, nickel oxide (NiO), nickel coated graphite (NiGr), and/or graphite (Gr) powders are investigated. In addition to samples made from 100% YSZ, 100% Ni, and 100% NiO powders, five composite types were created for this investigation: NiO/YSZ, NiO&Gr/YSZ, Ni/YSZ, NiGr/YSZ, and Ni&Gr/YSZ each with nickel loadings varying between 4 vol% Ni of total solids and 77 vol% Ni of total solids. Another set of composites with a fixed nickel loading of 27 vol% Ni and 47 vol% Ni of total solids and varying graphite loadings were also created. <br /> During the burnout stage, the composites made from nickel oxide powder shrink slightly while the composites made from nickel metal expand due to nickel oxidation. Graphite additions below 20 vol% of the green volume do not alter the dimensional changes of the composites during burnout, but graphite loadings greater than 25 vol% of the green volume cause significant expansion in the thickness of the composites. <br /> After sintering, the amount of volumetric sintering shrinkage decreases with higher nickel loadings and is greater for the composites made with nickel oxide compared to the composites made from nickel metal. The porosity generated in the composites containing graphite is slightly higher than the volume of graphite added to the composite and is much greater than the porosity contained in the graphite-free composites. <br /> Dimensional changes of the porous Ni/YSZ and NiO/YSZ composites during both burnout and sintering were analysed based on concepts of constrained sintering of composite powder mixtures. In some cases constrained sintering was evident, while in others, a more simple rule of mixtures behaviour for shrinkage as a function of YSZ content was observed. <br /> When nickel oxide is reduced to nickel metal during the reduction stage there is essentially no change in the composite volume for the composites containing YSZ because the YSZ prevents the composites from shrinking. After reduction the additional porosity generated in the composites is equivalent to the change in volume due to the reduction of nickel oxide to nickel metal. <br /> When measuring the electrical conductivity, each composite type demonstrated classic percolation behaviour. The NiGr/YSZ composites had the lowest percolation threshold, followed by the Ni/YSZ and NiO/YSZ composites. When graphite was added with a nickel coating, the added porosity did not disrupt the nickel percolation network and allowed the nickel to occupy a larger effective volume compared to a composite made with similar sized solid nickel particles. When graphite was added to the composites, the electrical conductivity was reduced and the percolation threshold increased. <br /> Generally, the coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) for Ni/YSZ composites are expected to follow the rule of mixtures prediction since the elastic properties for nickel and YSZ are similar. However when porosity is distributed unevenly between the YSZ and nickel phases, the CTE prediction will deviate from the rule of mixtures. When cornstarch was added to the NiGr/YSZ composites, the CTE increased as the amount of porosity in the YSZ phase increased. The CTE of the NiGr/YSZ composites followed the rule of mixtures indicating that the porosity was evenly distributed between the nickel and YSZ phases. For the other composite types, the measured CTE was higher than the rule of mixtures prediction suggesting that more porosity was contained within the YSZ phase.

This project is aimed at developing and demonstrating highly conductive, lightweight, and low-cost thermoplastic blends to be used as flow field bipolar plates for polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells. <br><br> The research is focused on designing, prototyping, and testing carbon-filled thermoplastic composites with high electrical conductivity, as well as suitable mechanical and process properties. <br><br> The impact of different types of fillers on the composite blend properties was evaluated, as well as the synergetic effect of mixtures of fill types within a thermoplastic polymer matrix. A number of blends were produced by varying the filler percentages. Composites with loadings up to 65% by weight of graphite, conductive carbon black, and carbon fibers were investigated. Research results show that three-filler composites exhibit better performance than single or two-filler composites. <br><br> Injection and compression molding of the conductive carbon filled polypropylene blend was used to fabricate the bipolar plates. A Thermal Gravimetric Analysis (TGA) was used to determine the actual filler loading of composites. A Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) technique was use as an effective way to view the microstructure of composite for properties such as edge effects, porosity, and fiber alignment. Density and mechanical properties of conductive thermoplastic composites were also investigated. During this study, it was found that 1:1:1 SG-4012/VCB/CF composites showed better performance than other blends. The highest conductivity, 1900 S/m in in-plane and 156 S/m in through plane conductivity, is obtained with the 65% composite. Mechanical properties such as tensile modulus, tensile strength, flexural modulus and flexural strength for 65% 1:1:1 SG-4012/VCB/CF composite were found to be 584. 3 MPa, 9. 50 MPa, 6. 82 GPa and 47. 7 MPa, respectively, and these mechanical properties were found to meet minimum mechanical property requirements for bipolar plates. The highest density for bipolar plate developed in this project is 1. 33 g/cm³ and is far less than that of graphite bipolar plate. <br><br> A novel technique for metal insert bipolar plate construction was also developed for this project. With a copper sheet insert, the in-plane conductivity of bipolar plate was found to be significantly improved. The performance of composite and copper sheet insert bipolar plates was investigated in a single cell fuel cell. All the composites bipolar plates showed lower performance than the graphite bipolar plate on current-voltage (I-V) polarization curve testing. Although the copper sheet insert bipolar plates were very conductive in in-plane conductivity, there was little improvement in single cell performance compared with the composite bipolar plates. <br><br> This work also investigated the factors affecting bipolar plate resistance measurement, which is important for fuel cell bipolar plate design and material selection. Bipolar plate surface area (S) and surface area over thickness (S/T) ratio was showed to have significant effects on the significance of interfacial contact resistances. At high S/T ratio, the contact resistance was found to be most significant for thermoplastic blends. Other factors such as thickness, material properties, surface geometry and clamping pressure were also found to affect the bipolar plate resistance measurements significantly.

A controlled column experiment was conducted to investigate the geophysical response of gasoline spills into the partially saturated sand column. The column was 0.61 diameter (ID) and 2 m high cylindrical polyvinyl chloride, which was packed with the Borden sand to a height of 1.95 m, flushed with CO2, saturated, and drained to a height of 0.73 m. The monitoring techniques used for this experiment was DC resistivity and time domain reflectometry (TDR) methods. The column was equipped with resistivity electrodes and TDR probes, which were placed on the column wall vertically with 3 cm intervals, on opposite sides, two monitoring wells, an injection well, a manometer, an outlet/inlet system, and a vent. A total amount of 5 liters of standard API 91-01 gasoline was added to the system in steps of 1, 2, and 2 liters to examine the geophysical response to different amounts of gasoline. Measurements were taken before and after each injection and also during subsequent fluctuation of the water table. Both monitoring techniques were able to record even the minor changes in the trend of conductivity and permittivity profiles due to the addition of the small amount of gasoline during the first spill. The conductivity and permittivity profiles obtained before lowering the water level below the original level and those obtained after the water level reached to the original level do not match, which is an indication of entrapped gasoline inside the pores. Two core samples was taken from the sand symmetrically after each water table fluctuation and analyzed for total petroleum hydrocarbon (TPH) analysis and the results were compared to the conductivity and permittivity results. The conductivity profile obtained using DC resistivity method was compared to that of obtained using TDR method. The profiles match in the saturated zone where all of the pores are connected with water and therefore electrolytic conduction is predominant. In the unsaturated zone, where there is low pore water connectivity, TDR measured conductivity values are higher than those measured using the resistivity method. Water saturation values were calculated using conductivity and permittivity values before and after each injection. Different values of saturation exponent (n) were tested for Archie’s law until an appropriate value was found which gave the best water saturation from conductivity data for clean Borden sand. Then, the water saturation obtained from permittivity values using Topp’s equations for different materials were compared to that of obtained from conductivity values using Archie’s equation. Topp’s equation for 30 µm glass beads provided the best match. Furthermore, other equations developed by other researchers were examined to obtain water saturation profiles from the permittivity values; all of them overestimate the water saturation for Borden sand. The water saturation profiles after the gasoline spills obtained using both Archie’s law and Topp’s equation do not match, perhaps because both equations were developed for three-phase (water-solid-air) systems.

The effective and efficient remediation of contaminated groundwater sites requires site specific information regarding the physical, chemical and biological properties of the aquifer. Building on the dipole flow test (DFT) and the dipole flow and tracer test (DFTT), the dipole flow and reactive tracer test (DFRTT) has been proposed as an alternative to current aquifer parameter estimation methods. A steady-state dipole flow field is created by circulating groundwater between chambers isolated by the dipole tool. A tracer is released into the injection chamber and the breakthrough curve at the extraction chamber is interpreted with the DFRTT specific model. The overall goal of this thesis was to demonstrate the ability of a prototype dipole system to produce tracer BTCs in conventional wells installed in an unconfined sandy aquifer. The Waterloo dipole probe was constructed and field tested at CFB Borden. DFTs conducted along the length of the screen of non-filter packed monitoring wells provided similar estimates of radial hydraulic conductivity (Kr) to slug tests and literature values. The geometric mean Kr estimated in the filter packed wells was approximately an order of magnitude greater than the mean Kr estimate for the non-filter packed wells due to short-circuiting through the filter pack. A total of 46 DFTTs were completed in the monitoring wells at CFB Borden to investigate the properties of the BTCs. The shape of the BTC for a conservative tracer is affected by test set up parameters, well construction, and aquifer formation properties. The BTCs from the DFTTs completed in the non-filter pack monitoring wells were categorized into four “type curves” based on the BTC properties. The differences between the type curves were largely defined by the ratio of K between the skin zone and the aquifer (Ks/Kr). Now that a series of DFTT BTCs have been generated, the DFRTT model will be used to estimate the aquifer parameters. To continue the work outlined in this thesis, DFRTTs are planned for well-documented contaminated sites.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of traditional hydrogeologic characterization approaches in a highly heterogeneous glaciofluvial aquifer at the North Campus Research Site (NCRS), situated on the University of Waterloo campus. Continuous soil cores to a depth of approximately 18 m were collected during the installation of the CMT monitoring wells and the multi-screen pumping well. K estimates were obtained for the core by obtaining 471 samples and testing them with a falling head permeameter, as well as by utilizing empirical equations developed to estimate K. A geostatistical analysis performed on the K datasets yielded strongly heterogeneous kriged K fields for the site. K and Ss were also estimated via type curve analysis of slug and pumping test data collected at the site. The various K and Ss estimates were then evaluated by simulating the transient drawdown data using a 3D forward numerical model constructed using Hydrogeosphere (Therrien et al., 2005). Results showed that, while drawdown predictions generally improved as more complexity was introduced into the model, the ability to make accurate drawdown predictions at all of the CMT ports was inconsistent. These results suggest that new techniques may be required to accurately capture subsurface heterogeneity for improved predictions of flow in similar systems.