This paper was presented at the 2nd Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2009), which was held at Brunel University, West London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, IPEM, the Italian Union of Thermofluid dynamics, the Process Intensification Network, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications.Solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) is among others one of the most promising technologies for electricity energy generation. A recent new trends is to reduce its operating temperature from 1000oC to 800oC by
employing a thick porous layer as the supporting structure. Various transport processes occurred are strongly affected by catalytic chemical/electrochemical reactions appearing in nano- or/and microstructured and
multi-functional porous electrodes. It is particularly true if methane is used as the fuel, and internal reforming reactions within the microstructured porous anodes enable the conversion of the methane into H2
and CO. To deeply understand the chemical reaction coupled gas flow and heat transfer in the microstructured porous anode, a fully three-dimensional numerical calculation procedure (CFD) is developed and applied. The species mass/heat generation and consumption related to the internal reforming reactions and the electrochemical reaction have been identified and employed in the study. The variable thermalphysical
properties and transport parameters of the fuel gas mixture have also been taken into account. Furthermore, the heat transfer due to the fuel gas flow is implemented into the energy balance based on multi-component diffusion models. Finally, various issues connecting to the micro models of the surface
reactions are discussed and reviewed.Thi study is supported by the Swedish Research Council (VR) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC-50706004)
