The characteristics of a fluidized bed electrode applied as a direct carbon fuel cell anode, which has an inner diameter of 35 mm and height of 520 mm and employed bamboo-based activated carbon (BB-AC) as a feedstock, are vigorously studied under various experimental conditions. The optimal performance of the fluidized bed electrode direct carbon fuel cell (FEBDCFC) anode with the BB-AC as a fuel is obtained under the following conditions with a limiting current density of 95.9 mA cm(-2): reaction temperature, 923 K; N-2 flow rate, 385 ml min(-1); O-2/CO2 flow rate, 10/20 ml min(-1); nickel particle content, 30 g: and a cylindrically curved nickel plate as a current collector. Under the same optimal conditions, the limiting current density of the FEBDCFC anode with oak wood-based activated carbon and activated carbon fiber as the fuel is determined to be 94.5 and 88.4 mA cm(-2), which is lower than that determined for BB-AC as the fuel. Comparatively, the limiting current density for graphite, which is utilized as the carbon fuel for this fuel cell system, could not be unequivocally determined because no plateau of the limiting current density against the overpotential is observed. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.