This work aimed to quantify air side contaminants during Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) testing in stack configuration. Post-analyses of a long-term test have shown that performance degradation was mainly due to cathode pollutants originated upstream of the cell, therefore their source identification is crucial. The compressed air system, feeding the airflow to the cathode, was investigated by filtering and subsequent chemical analysis of the filters. Hot-air-sampling was redone in situ at the cathode air entry during a new test run to assess the contaminant concentrations in air in SOFC test conditions. in addition, the behavior of SOFC proximal system components, i.e. alloy oxidation, was characterized separately. Besides the investigation of silicon and sulfur contamination, the present work focused on chromium from high-temperature alloys used in Balance-of-Plant (BoP) components in direct contact with the airflow. Concentrations of volatile Cr-species under SOFC testing conditions were compared to Cr-accumulation on the tested cell as well as to Cr-evaporation rates from BoP alloys, which were individually characterized regarding oxidation behavior. Evaporated Cr quantities were found to saturate the air with Cr-vapors at the cathode air-inlet, as confirmed by the in-situ measurement of volatile species in the hot airflow, and correlate well to accumulated Cr in the cell after long term testing. The results of this study suggest guidelines to reduce air side contamination from exogenous sources in SOFC stacks. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.