Ceramic Fuel Cells

As utilities try to squeeze more profit from their expensive electricity grids while at the same time adversely effecting their reliability, large scale and lengthy power outages are becoming more frequent. One way of safe guarding this is by installing your own efficient, low emission generation.

One of the fastest growing sectors in the energy industry at the moment is Distributed Generation (DG) also known as Decentralised Energy (DE). Currently about 7% of world wide generation is DG with some countries such as Germany having as much as a 13% DG market share.

One type of Distributed Generation is mini-turbines such as the Capstone C30. These are miniature Gas Turbines which are connected up to either Natural Gas or LPG. One of the benefits of DG is the co-generation capability often referred to as CHP (Combined Heat Power). This allows the consumer not only to generate their own power, but also to use the otherwise wasted heat for room or water heating.

The other fast growing type of DG is fuel cells. Fuel cells are still a little way off from participating in the zero emission hydrogen economy, part due to the availability of hydrogen, but they are a very real option today for DG from natural gas.

There are many types of fuel cells, but the common ones are :

  • Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEM) - Used in fast starting applications such as UPSs and typically operate on pure Hydrogen.
  • Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells - More suited to commercial applications and larger power plants.
  • Solid Oxide Fuel Cells - High electrical efficiency and well suited for small to large scale generation.

Ballard Power Systems is leading the world in PEM Fuel Cells. Today, You can purchase a 1kW AirGen Fuel Cell Generator which is a small portable unit which can generate electricity for up to 8 hours from it’s three internal hydrogen cartridges. After this the unit can switch to an external higher capacity Hydrogen Cylinder. These units are more aimed at back up UPS power supplies for computer rooms, telecommunications etc but can have a range of other uses. Running on pure Hydrogen means they generate no emissions making them ideal for indoor use.

In the Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) arena, a world renowned Melbourne based company, Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (ASX:CFU) is considered to be leading the world market. CFCL is working to commercialise a 1kW SOFC later this year that also functions as a Domestic Hot Water service that can service a family of 4. Larger units up to 5kW will also be avalible to suit businesses.

The Residential Micro CHP produces electricity from natural gas (Methane), LPG, Propane without combustion, noise or moving parts providing for a greater electrical efficiency of up to 50%, while reducing CO2 emissions by 60%. By harnessing the 850 degree heat generated by the fuel cell, the owner can gain hot water and an overall system efficiency of 85%. This makes the SOFC much more efficient that the large scale CCGT (Combined Cycle Gas Turbine) that your power station may use, and without loosing another 10% power from losses in the grid.

The Australian Technology Park in Sydney is one site in Australia who uses a large fuel cell to generate 200kW of electricity from natural gas for use within the park, while at the same time reducing greenhouse gas emissions.

Ceramic Fuel Cells has recently set up a subsidiary in the United Kingdom where it intends to set up a large scale manufacturing plant. It has the backing of many large shareholders including Woodside Petroleum, Energex, Western Power, BHP Billiton, CSIRO & the Commonwealth of Australia.

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