Molten carbonate fuel cells are a promising technology for the operation of future stationary power plants. To enhance service life, a detailed knowledge of their dynamical behaviour is essential. The possibility of fast and save load changes is important for daily operation of these power plants. To predict the dynamical behaviour of fuel cells a hierachy of mathematical models has been developed in the past. Recently a systematic model reduction was applied to a 2D crossflow model. We present here the new 1D counterflow model and discuss a suitable discretization method. Accordingly we set up a method of optimal control following the first-discretize-then-optimize approach. Results are shown for simulation and optimal control in the case of load changes.