Stakeholders from academia, government and industry met at the first annual Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Canada (SOFC Canada) Conference last weekend in Sherbrooke , Quebec. SOFC Canada brings together key fuel cell stakeholders from across Canada, including industry organizations, government laboratories, universities, industry, related technology companies, fuel suppliers and transporters, and end user organisations to develop the full platform required to make solid oxide fuel cells a commercial success.  SOFC Canada developed its Strategic Technical Plan at the Sherbrooke conference and agreed on near-term priorities and key integrated activities.  The draft plan will be circulated to members by the end of October and will be available externally in November.

The Clean Air Act, which includes the requirement to move quickly to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce air pollutants, supports the extensive deployment of solid oxide fuel cell technology (SOFCs). 

SOFC systems offer the opportunity to meet energy needs by cleanly and quietly producing electricity and are an alternative to large, point-source power stations.  SOFC technology extends the lifetime of our existing fuel resources, maximizes their energy conversion efficiency, delivers power more flexibly, and significantly diminishes greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, air pollution and the causes of smog.  SOFCs have particular promise, as they can efficiently utilize traditional fuels such as natural gas, “syngas” captured from coal, propane, and diesel, as well as biofuels produced from biomass and landfills, and can serve as a bridge to the future hydrogen economy. Minister of Natural Resources, Gary Lunn’s comment that ‘new and emerging technologies will play a significant role in helping industry achieve the targets’ is therefore much welcomed by SOFC Canada in support of the development and commercialization of SOFC technology.  The Strategic Technical Plan is central to coordinating stakeholders to deliver this technology on an accelerated timescale to meet the needs of Canada and beyond.

SOFC Canada is a new organization, focussed on the integration of all major Canadian solid oxide fuel cell and other high temperature fuel cell-related research, development and demonstration initiatives, in order to foster the co-ordination and sustainable funding of R&D and commercialization of SOFCs for the world market.

Backgrounder

What Is A Fuel Cell?  In principle, a fuel cell operates like a battery. Unlike a battery, a fuel cell does not run down or require recharging because it produces energy in the form of electricity and heat as long as fuel is supplied. A fuel cell can be scaled to power everything from cell phones to entire towns and thus are very flexible sources of electrical power. A fuel cell relies on electrochemistry and not combustion. Consequently, emissions are much less than from fuel combustion processes, with the potential for less smog production and cleaner air.

How Do They Work? A single fuel cell consists of two electrodes sandwiched on either side of an electrolyte. Oxygen or air passes over one electrode and fuel over the other, generating electricity, water (sometimes carbon dioxide) and heat. Typically, many single cells are grouped together into “stacks” to increase the power of the device.

What are Solid Oxide Fuel Cells?  Solid oxide fuel cells use hard ceramic compounds for the electrolyte and electrodes and operate at very high temperatures.  There are two typical configurations for assembling the stacks of SOFCs.  Tubular designs use a bundled array of ceramic tubes, while planar designs use flat cells stacked together like plates.  SOFCs are suitable for stationary power applications, for combined heat and power applications in homes and industry, and work is ongoing to make them portable for use as auxiliary power units for transportation and other applications.

Benefits of Solid Oxide Fuel Cells:  An important issue to our society is the rapidly escalating demand for clean, reliable and secure sources of energy.  At the same time, we are experiencing increasing fuel costs, pollution, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.  Solid oxide fuel cell technology can help reduce these problems because they offer:

• High efficiency of more than 70% when used in combined heat and power applications;
• Environmental benefits, including cleaner air and reduced smog due to lower emissions of CO2 and other GHGs and pollutants than when the same type of fuel is burned to produce the equivalent amount of energy;
• Ability to sequester the CO2, as SOFCs generate a concentrated stream of high purity carbon dioxide which can be trapped and sequestered to significantly lower Canada's CO2 emission levels
• Fuel flexibility, since they can use hydrogen, a variety of fossil fuels, and some renewable sources of fuel.