DESC:TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to an aspect of a electrolytic cell, and particularly, the present disclosure relates to a solid oxide electrolytic cell (SOEC) for production of a hydrogen.

BACKGROUND

A Solid Oxide Electrolytic Cell (SOEC) is an electrochemical device, which uses electrical energy to drive an electrolysis of water to produce a hydrogen and a oxygen when high voltage is applied. Further, a Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) generates electricity using an electrochemical reaction between a fuel and an oxidant, while the SOEC uses electrical energy to drive a reversible reaction, such as the electrolysis of water.

The SOEC has proven to be useful in the production of the hydrogen and the oxygen using electrolysis but has a few drawbacks. The operating temperature of the SOEC may range between 600-900° C, which may lead to a high amount of energy consumption for heating the stacks and poses a challenge to the durability of the SOEC. Further, the operating temperature of the SOEC affects the components of the SOEC, by facilitating chemical reactions which may lead to breakdowns and degradation of the materials used in the SOEC. A rapid start and shut of the SOEC also leads to mechanical failures of the components of the SOEC. Moreover, to overcome the issues related to the fabrication and the materials used in the SOEC, the SOEC uses high-temperature temperature materials which are difficult to manufacture due to advanced engineering and insulation technique requirements, which may also lead to an additional cost in the manufacturing of the SOEC.

Accordingly, there remains a need for the SOEC that is able to maintain the temperature requirements needed for the process to be complete without encountering mechanical failure and is energy efficient.

SUMMARY

This summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts, in a simplified format, that are further described in the detailed description of the invention. This summary is neither intended to identify key or essential inventive concepts of the invention nor intended to determine the scope of the invention.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a solid oxide electrolyte cell (SOEC) system for producing hydrogen. The SOEC includes an electrolytic cell having an anode and a cathode. Further, the SOEC further includes a Hydrogen-gas burner fluidically coupled to cathode and adapted to provide steam of predefined volume to the cathode, based on the combustion of Hydrogen. Further, the SOEC includes a molten salt heater fluidically coupled to the hydrogen-gas burner. The molten salt heater includes a housing forming a salt bath adapted to hold salt and an electric heater adapted to heat the salt. Further, the molten salt heater includes a heat exchanger coil disposed in the salt bath, the heat exchanger coil adapted to receive water, and an outlet adapted to provide steam to the hydrogen-gas burner. A temperature of the generated steam is greater than an autoignition temperature of Hydrogen.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, an assembly for supply steam to an electrolytic cell is disclosed. The assembly includes a gas burner fluidically coupled to cathode of the electrolytic cell and adapted to provide steam of predefined volume to the cathode. Further, a molten heater fluidically coupled to the gas burner. The molten heater includes a housing forming a salt bath adapted to hold salt, and an electric heater adapted to heat the salt. Further, the molten heater includes a heat exchanger coil disposed in the salt bath. The heat exchanger coil adapted to receive water, and an outlet adapted to provide steam to the gas burner. A temperature of the generated steam is greater than an autoignition temperature of Hydrogen.

The present disclosure provides technical advancements such as the SOEC is energy efficient, as the heat exchanger facilitates the reheating of the water. Further, the reheating using a plurality of heaters adapted to assist as the reheater thereby reducing the mechanical breakdowns. Moreover, the present disclosure may also provide a cost-efficient solution to the existing SOECs.

To further clarify the advantages and features of the present disclosure, a more particular description of the invention will be rendered by reference to specific embodiments thereof, which are illustrated in the appended drawings. It is appreciated that these drawings depict only typical embodiments of the invention and are therefore not to be considered limiting of its scope. The invention will be described and explained with additional specificity and detail in the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

These and other features, aspects, and advantages of the present disclosure will become better understood when the following detailed description is read with reference to the accompanying drawings in which like characters represent like parts throughout the drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 illustrates a flowchart of a Solid Oxide Electrolytic Cell (SOEC), in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 2 illustrates a flowchart of the SOEC with a bubbler unit, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 3 illustrates a flowchart of the SOEC with an electrical heater; in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure;
Figure 4 illustrates a graph depicting temperature v/s ionic conductivity, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure; and
Figure 5 illustrates a graph depicting temperature v/s energy demand, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF FIGURES

For the purpose of promoting an understanding of the principles of the invention, reference will now be made to the embodiment illustrated in the drawings and specific language will be used to describe the same. It will nevertheless be understood that no limitation of the scope of the invention is thereby intended, such alterations and further modifications in the illustrated system, and such further applications of the principles of the invention as illustrated therein being contemplated as would normally occur to one skilled in the art to which the invention relates. Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skilled in the art to which this invention belongs. The system, methods, and examples provided herein are illustrative only and not intended to be limiting.

The term “some” as used herein is defined as “none, or one, or more than one, or all.” Accordingly, the terms “none,” “one,” “more than one,” “more than one, but not all” or “all” would all fall under the definition of “some.” The term “some embodiments” may refer to no embodiments or to one embodiment or to several embodiments or to all embodiments. Accordingly, the term “some embodiments” is defined as meaning “no embodiment, or one embodiment, or more than one embodiment, or all embodiments.”

The terminology and structure employed herein are for describing, teaching and illuminating some embodiments and their specific features and elements and do not limit, restrict or reduce the spirit and scope of the claims or their equivalents.

More specifically, any terms used herein such as but not limited to “includes,” “comprises,” “has,” “consists,” and grammatical variants thereof do NOT specify an exact limitation or restriction and certainly do NOT exclude the possible addition of one or more features or elements, unless otherwise stated, and furthermore must NOT be taken to exclude the possible removal of one or more of the listed features and elements, unless otherwise stated with the limiting language “MUST comprise” or “NEEDS TO include.”

Whether or not a certain feature or element was limited to being used only once, either way, it may still be referred to as “one or more features” “one or more elements” “at least one feature” or “at least one element.” Furthermore, the use of the terms “one or more” or “at least one” feature or element does NOT preclude there being none of that feature or element, unless otherwise specified by limiting language such as “there NEEDS to be one or more . . . ” or “one or more element is REQUIRED.”

Unless otherwise defined, all terms, and especially any technical and/or scientific terms, used herein may be taken to have the same meaning as commonly understood by one having an ordinary skill in the art.

Reference is made herein to some “embodiments.” It should be understood that an embodiment is an example of a possible implementation of any features and/or elements presented in the attached claims. Some embodiments have been described for the purpose of illuminating one or more of the potential ways in which the specific features and/or elements of the attached claims fulfil the requirements of uniqueness, utility, and non-obviousness.

Use of the phrases and/or terms such as but not limited to “a first embodiment,” “a further embodiment,” “an alternate embodiment,” “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “multiple embodiments,” “some embodiments,” “other embodiments,” “a further embodiment”, “furthermore embodiment”, “additional embodiment” or variants thereof do NOT necessarily refer to the same embodiments. Unless otherwise specified, one or more particular features and/or elements described in connection with one or more embodiments may be found in one embodiment or may be found in more than one embodiment, or may be found in all embodiments, or may be found in no embodiments. Although one or more features and/or elements may be described herein in the context of only a single embodiment, or alternatively in the context of more than one embodiment, or further alternatively in the context of all embodiments, the features and/or elements may instead be provided separately or in any appropriate combination or not at all. Conversely, any feature and/or element described in the context of separate embodiments may alternatively be realized as existing together in the context of a single embodiment.

Any particular and all details set forth herein are used in the context of some embodiments and therefore should NOT be necessarily taken as limiting factors to the attached claims. The attached claims and their legal equivalents can be realized in the context of embodiments other than the ones used as illustrative examples in the description below.

Embodiments of the present disclosure will be described below in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Further, skilled artisans will appreciate those elements in the drawings are illustrated for simplicity and may not have necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the flow charts illustrate the method in terms of the most prominent steps involved to help to improve understanding of aspects of the present disclosure. Furthermore, in terms of the construction of the device, one or more components of the device may have been represented in the drawings by conventional symbols, and the drawings may show only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments of the present disclosure so as not to obscure the drawings with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

Figure 1 illustrates a flowchart of a Solid Oxide Electrolytic Cell (SOEC) 100, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 2 illustrates a flowchart of the SOEC 100 with a bubbler unit, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 3 illustrates a flowchart of the SOEC with an electrical heater; in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. For the sake of brevity, Figure 1 to Figure 3 have been explained together.

The SOEC 100 involves an electrochemical process that splits heated water present in the form of steam into a hydrogen and an oxygen and operates at high temperatures around 700-8000C. The SOEC 100 may include but is not limited to a water tank 102, a heat exchanger 104, a molten salt heat exchanger 106, a line heater 108, a hydrogen-gas (H2) burner 110, an external hydrogen cylinder 112, an external oxygen cylinder 114, an electrolytic cell 116, an electric heater 118, and a chiller unit 120. In an embodiment, the molten salt heat exchanger 106 may be a molten salt heater or a molten heater and may be used interchangeably.

The water tank 102 is used to store water which may be heated into steam in order to be used by the SOEC 100 for splitting. The water tank 102 includes an ionic conductivity sensor 124, a level indicator or sensor 126, and a vent 128. The ionic conductivity sensor 124 is used to sense the conductivity of the water present in the water tank 102. Further, the level sensor 126 is used to sense the volume of water present in the water tank 102 by indicating the level to which water has been filled in the water tank 102. The vent 128 may be used for releasing any trapped gases or steam from the water tank 102. Further, the water from the water tank 102 may be pumped into the heat exchanger 104, and a first temperature sensor 130 may be configured to detect temperature of the water entering the heat exchanger 104.

The first temperature sensor 130 is used to sense the temperature of the water received from the water tank 102 and is placed upstream to a first inlet of the heat exchanger 104. Once the temperature of the water from the water tank 102 is determined, the water from the water tank 102 may be heated up by exchanging heat with an outcoming mixture of steam and the hydrogen from the electrolytic cell 116 via a second inlet of the heat exchanger 104. A second temperature sensor 132 is placed upstream to the second inlet of the heat exchanger 104, where the second temperature sensor 132 is used to sense the temperature of the outcoming mixture of steam and the hydrogen from the electrolytic cell 116. The heated water from the heat exchanger 104 may further enter the molten salt heat exchanger 106.

In an embodiment, the heat exchanger 104 may be positioned downstream the electrolytic cell 116. The heat exchanger may be adapted to receive an outcoming mixture of Hydrogen and steam and remove a portion of steam present in the outcoming mixture.

The water received from a first outlet of the heat exchanger 104 is passed through a third temperature sensor 134, which is used to sense the temperature of the heated water from the heat exchanger 104. Further, the heated water from the heat exchanger 104 may be converted into steam by using exchanged heat from high-temperature molten salt. Moreover, the molten salt heat exchanger 106 may include a plurality of electric heaters, where each of the plurality of electric heaters supplies a 3kW x 5 Nos energy to molten salt to increase molten salt temperature. The steam produced from the molten salt heat exchanger 106 passes through the line heater 108, where the steam is further heated up. In an embodiment, the molten salt heater 106 fluidically coupled to the gas burner 110. The molten salt heater 106 may include a housing forming a salt bath adapted to hold salt. The plurality of electric heaters may be an electric heater adapted to heat the salt. The plurality of electric heaters may be adapted to store heat and may be adapted to supply heat to the high-temperature molten salt. In an embodiment, the plurality of electric heaters may serve the purpose of supply energy to the molten salt in case of main electric supply is down.

The steam from line heater 108 enters the H2 burner 110, where energy from a combustion of the hydrogen and the oxygen exchanged to steam enters inside the H2 burner 110. The external hydrogen cylinder 112 and the external oxygen cylinder 114 are fluidically connected to the H2 burner 110 to supply the hydrogen and the oxygen. The hydrogen from the external hydrogen cylinder 112 passes through a non-return valve 136 and a first flow sensor 138 to the H2 burner 110 and through the second flow sensor 140 to the electrolytic cell 116. The non-return valve 136 prevents any backflow of the hydrogen to the external hydrogen cylinder 112, and the first flow sensor 138 detects the rate of flow of the hydrogen from the external hydrogen cylinder 112 to the H2 burner 110. Further, the second flow sensor 140 detects the rate of flow of the hydrogen from the external hydrogen cylinder 112 to the electrolytic cell 116. The second flow sensor 140 along with a fourth temperature sensor 142 sends the hydrogen from the external hydrogen cylinder 112 to a cathode end of the electrolytic cell 116 directly to avoid damage to the stack. Moreover, the oxygen from the external oxygen cylinder 114 travels through a non-return valve 144 and a third flow sensor 146 along with a fifth temperature sensor 148 to the H2 burner 110. The non-return valve 144 prevents the backflow of the oxygen to the external oxygen cylinder 114.

Further, the flow sensor 146 is used to sense the rate of flow of the oxygen from the external oxygen cylinder 114 to the H2 burner 110 and the fifth temperature sensor 148 is used to sense the temperature of the incoming oxygen from the external oxygen cylinder 114. The H2 burner 110 further Burns the hydrogen from the external hydrogen cylinder 112 and the oxygen from the external oxygen cylinder 114 and sends a high-temperature steam from the H2 burner 110 to the cathode part of the electrolytic cell 116 to initiate the electrochemical reaction (also electricity is supplied to stack in the electrolytic cell 116). The set voltage to electrolytic cell 116 varies from 0-300V and the set current varies from 0-100A. Thus, the energy based on set voltage varies from 2.7-8.6kW and based on operating voltage varies from 0.6-3.7kW. In an embodiment, the H2 burner 110 may be configured to keep the temperature of the steam over and above an autoignition temperature of the hydrogen. In an embodiment, the temperature of the generated steam is greater than the autoignition temperature of Hydrogen.

In the anode part of the electrolytic cell 116, utility air is supplied by taking air from the atmosphere, compressing the air using an air compressor and passing through the electric heater 118 of a predefined capacity of 2kW. In an embodiment, an air supply unit may be adapted to supply air to the anode part. The utility air is also used as a stack heater and may further be useful as a sweeping gas. The electrolytic cell 116 produces the hydrogen and the oxygen by splitting the high-temperature steam produced by the H2 burner 110. Further, the electrolytic cell 116 may have a first outlet at the cathode which may be used for the release of the outcoming mixture of steam and the hydrogen. Moreover, the electrolytic cell 116 may have a second outlet at the anode which may be used for the release of the outcoming mixture of air and the oxygen, which is passed through to the external oxygen cylinder 114.

The outcoming mixture of the steam and the hydrogen released from the cathode of the electrolytic cell 116, passes through the heat exchanger 104 via the second inlet, which helps to remove steam present in the hydrogen via condensation. The heat exchanger 104 may not be able to condense the water present in the outcoming mixture from the electrolytic cell 116 outlets. Further, the chiller unit 120 may be used to remove the moisture content from the outcoming mixture.

In an embodiment, the SOEC 100 may comprise an hydrogen recovery unit. The hydrogen recovery unit may include a bubbling column 150, and a chiller unit 120. The bubbling column 150 may be positioned downstream the heat exchanger 104. Further, the chiller unit 120 may be coupled to the bubbling column 150 may be adapted to receive the outcoming mixture from the bubbling column as a coolant and may be adapted to condense remaining moisture content from the outcoming mixture to produce the hydrogen.

The outcoming mixture received from a second outlet of the heat exchanger 104 is passed into a bubbling column 150 where a second outlet pipe from the heat exchanger 104 is dipped into the bubbling column fluid (water) by a predefined depth of 50mm which may lead to the condensation of a predefined amount of moisture. Further, the remaining moisture may be condensed with the help of the chiller unit 120 which receives the outcoming mixture from the bubbling column using a coolant. The chiller unit 120 may further be connected to a power supply unit 152 in order to maintain a predefined temperature of a coolant in the chiller unit 120. The remaining moisture is removed from the chiller unit 120 using a liquid drain 154, thus maintaining the purity of the hydrogen up to 95.4%.

Referring to Figure 2, the chiller unit 120 may be coupled to a bubbler unit which may include a bubbler 202, a moisture trap 204, a gas purity analyser 206, a dry gas meter 208, a compressor 210, and a secondary hydrogen cylinder 212. The bubbler 202 may be used to prevent backflow of the extracted pure hydrogen. Further, the moisture trap 204 is used to trap any moisture residue in the extracted hydrogen. Moreover, the gas purity analyser 206 and the dry gas meter 208 are used to analyse the purity and the quantity of the extracted hydrogen. Furthermore, the compressor may be used to compress the extracted hydrogen for storage in the secondary hydrogen cylinder 212.

Referring to Figure 3, the SOEC 100 may further include an electric heater 302 which may be used in place of the molten salt heat exchanger 106, the line heater 108, the H2 burner 110, the external hydrogen cylinder 112, and the external oxygen cylinder 114 and any corresponding components which may be used for proper functioning of the aforementioned components, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Further, the electric heater 302 is used to produce the dry steam at a controlled temperature close to ambient pressure of 1 bar. Moreover, the electric heater 302 may be used to avoid the H2 and O2 combustion assembly so as to make the SOEC 100 compact in size and more efficient as the SOEC 100 may produce more net hydrogen in terms of kWh/kg-net h2. Furthermore, the electric heater 302 may further evade the O2 requirements for combustion in the SOEC 100.

Figure 4 illustrates a graph 400 depicting temperature v/s ionic conductivity, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The graph 400 shows the ionic conductivity of the oxygen with respect to the temperature of the oxygen. The solid oxide electrolyte is used in the electrolytic cell 116 has a high oxygen ionic conductivity, which conducts the oxygen ion from the cathode to the anode to facilitate the splitting reaction faster. Due to higher operating temperatures, the solid oxide electrolyte uses less electrical energy to split the water. The electrolysis reaction involved in water splitting by SOEC is:

Cathode: ??2??+2??-???2+??2-
Anode: 2??2-???2+4??-
Net reaction: 2??2???2??2+??2

Where H is hydrogen, O is oxygen, H2O is water and e is electrons.

Further, mass transfer of the oxygen ions from the cathode to the anode is one of the rate-determining step, which is enhanced by using the solid oxide electrolyte and operating at a high temperature. When increasing temperature, the molecules may get energized which increases the translational movement of molecules and tends to move faster.

Figure 5 illustrates a graph 500 depicting temperature v/s energy demand, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. The graph 500 shows the minimum energy requirement for splitting of water molecules. When the temperature increases the total energy demand (??H) increases, and the electrical energy(??G) decreases, due to an increase in entropy (??S) when deviating towards high temperature. The reaction between the molecules occurs once the molecule reaches a preferable state. The preferable state represents the position of the molecule and the distance of the molecule from a neighbouring molecule. The molecule reaches several states higher at a higher temperature, so there is a higher chance the molecule reaches the preferable state so that the final products may be formed. The reason due that, at higher temperatures, low electrical energy may be used to split water molecules. Even without the electrical energy, the water may split, but the water needs a higher temperature as well as higher pressure so that the effect of temperature does not get involved in the phase change. However, the process of splitting water only with temperature and pressure is highly expensive. By adapting the idea, ammonia production also occurs at low temperatures with the help of electrolysis. Table 1 shows that when temperature increases from 298-1123K, the minimum applied voltage for water splitting may be 1.18-0.96V.

T dH(MJ/kg(H2)) dG(J) E(Volts)
298 -120.909 -228572 1.184311
313 -120.984 -227902 1.180837
323 -121.034 -227451 1.1785
373 -121.284 -225151 1.166586
423 -121.532 -222784 1.154323
473 -121.776 -220359 1.141759
523 -122.016 -217883 1.128928
573 -122.249 -215362 1.115863
623 -122.476 -212800 1.10259
673 -122.697 -210202 1.089129
723 -122.91 -207572 1.075502
773 -123.116 -204913 1.061725
823 -123.315 -202228 1.047811
873 -123.506 -199518 1.033774
923 -123.69 -196788 1.019627
973 -123.866 -194038 1.005378
1023 -124.034 -191270 0.991037
1073 -124.195 -188486 0.976613
1123 -124.347 -185688 0.962113
Table 1

The present disclosure presents various technical advancements such as requiring a minimal amount of energy for operation as the heat exchanger facilitates reheating of the water. Further, the reheating and the step-wise procedural heating using a plurality of heaters helps as this may eliminate the mechanical breakdown issues. Moreover, the present disclosure may also provide a cost-efficient solution to the existing SOECs.

While specific language has been used to describe the present subject matter, any limitations arising on account thereto, are not intended. As would be apparent to a person in the art, various working modifications may be made to the method in order to implement the inventive concept as taught herein. The drawings and the foregoing description give examples of embodiments. Those skilled in the art will appreciate that one or more of the described elements may well be combined into a single functional element. Alternatively, certain elements may be split into multiple functional elements. Elements from one embodiment may be added to another embodiment. ,CLAIMS:1. A solid oxide electrolyte cell (SOEC) (100) for producing hydrogen, the comprising:
an electrolytic cell (116) having an anode and a cathode;
a Hydrogen-gas burner (110) fluidically coupled to cathode and adapted to provide steam of predefined volume to the cathode, based on the combustion of Hydrogen; and
a molten salt heater (106) fluidically coupled to the hydrogen-gas burner (110), the molten salt heater (106) comprising:
a housing forming a salt bath adapted to hold salt;
an electric heater (118) adapted to heat the salt; and
a heat exchanger coil of a heat exchanger (104) disposed in the salt bath, the heat exchanger coil adapted to receive water, and an outlet adapted to provide steam to the hydrogen-gas burner (110), wherein a temperature of the generated steam is greater than an autoignition temperature of Hydrogen.

2. The SOEC (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heat exchanger (104) is positioned downstream the electrolytic cell (116), the heat exchanger (104) adapted to:
receive an outcoming mixture of Hydrogen and steam, and
remove a portion of steam present in the outcoming mixture.

3. The SOEC (100) as claimed in claim 1, comprising:
a Hydrogen recovery unit having:
a bubbling column (150) positioned downstream the heat exchanger (104), wherein a second outlet pipe from the heat exchanger (104) is dipped into a bubbling column (150) fluid at a predefine depth to condense a predefined amount of moisture from the outcoming mixture; and
a chiller unit (120) coupled to the bubbling column (150) is adapted to receive the outcoming mixture from the bubbling column (150) as a coolant and is adapted to condense remaining moisture content from the outcoming mixture to produce the hydrogen.

4. The SOEC (100) as claimed in claim 3, wherein the chiller unit (120) is connected to a power supply unit to maintain a predefined temperature of the coolant, wherein the remaining moisture content of the outcoming mixture is removed using a liquid drain in the chiller unit (120).

5. The SOEC (100) as claimed in claim 1, comprising an air supply unit adapted to supply air to the anode.

6. The SOEC (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein a water tank (120) configured to store water and supply the stored water for steam generation.

7. The SOEC (100) as claimed in claim 6, wherein the water tank (120) comprises:
an ionic conductivity sensor (124) to sense the conductivity of the water present in the water tank (120);
a level sensor (126) configured to sense the volume of water present in the water tank (120) by indicating the level to which water has been filled in the water tank (120); and
a vent (128) adapted to release trapped gases or steam from the water tank (120).

8. The SOEC (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the molten salt heater (106) comprises a plurality of electric heaters, and each of the plurality of electric heaters supplies at least 3kW energy to molten salt to increase molten salt temperature.

9. The SOEC (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the hydrogen-gas burner (110) is adapted to receive hydrogen from an external hydrogen cylinder and oxygen from an external oxygen cylinder, wherein the hydrogen from the external hydrogen cylinder is adapted to pass through a non-return valve and a first flow sensor to the hydrogen-gas burner (110) and through a second flow sensor to the electrolytic cell (116).

10. The SOEC (100) as claimed in claim 1, wherein the heat exchanger (104) is adapted to preheat water through waste heat from the outcoming mixture of steam and hydrogen.

11. The SOEC (100) as claimed in claim 1, comprising:
a gas purity analyser (206) configured to measure the purity of the produced hydrogen.

12. An assembly for supply steam to an electrolytic cell (116), the assembly comprising:
a gas burner (110) fluidically coupled to cathode of the electrolytic cell (116) and adapted to provide steam of predefined volume to the cathode; and
a molten heater (106) fluidically coupled to the gas burner (110), the molten heater (106) comprising:
a housing forming a salt bath adapted to hold salt;
an electric heater (118) adapted to heat the salt; and
a heat exchanger coil of a heat exchanger (104) disposed in the salt bath, the heat exchanger coil adapted to receive water, and an outlet adapted to provide steam to the gas burner (110), wherein a temperature of the generated steam is greater than an autoignition temperature of Hydrogen.