FuelCellsWorks

Low emission at sea

Lyngby–The world’s first solid oxide fuel cell unit installed on a ship has started operation. The unit is installed on board the car-carrying ship “Undine”, where 24 fuel cell stacks produce electrical energy in a very clean and almost emission-free process. The unit operates on methanol with CO₂ and water as the only by-products of the process.

Topsoe Fuel Cell has developed and supplied the fuel cell stacks for the 20 kW auxiliary power unit. The fuel cell stacks are based on the solid oxide fuel cell technology. Wärtsilä has been responsible for the system design of the unit in the framework of the METHAPU project.

Power from land fill gas

Topsoe Fuel Celll and Wärtsilä co-operate in the development of SOFC-systems for clean and efficient power generation. At the New Energy plant in Vasa, Finland a unit is running on landfill gas, supplying electricity for the surrounding homes.

Topsoe Fuel Cell produces fuel cells, stacks and PowerCores^TM, all based on the solid oxide fuel cell technology (SOFC). It can be applied as the basis of a wide array of clean and efficient energy solutions for Auxiliary Power Units, Combined Heat and Power and Distributed Generation.

Hydrogen Purity Certification

ITM Power, the energy storage and clean fuel company is pleased to announce its participation in a Joint Industry Project (JIP) with the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), directed at establishing a suite of analytical methods for the measurement of trace-level impurities in hydrogen. The project is underway and part funded by the National Measurement Office (NMO).

The future uptake of hydrogen as a fuel will depend in part on the ability to produce low cost hydrogen which is of a sufficient purity. These purity requirements are currently being set out in a series of draft International Standards (ISO 14687), with differing purities depending on the appliance in question. Where hydrogen is used to fuel proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, the recommended limits of impurities permissible to avoid poisoning of the fuel cell catalysts are currently being laid out in two ISO draft standards

1. ISO/CD 14687-2: 2009 – Hydrogen fuel — Product specification — Part 2: Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell applications for road vehicles (this is consistent with SAE J2719 – Information Report on the Development of a Hydrogen Quality Guideline for Fuel Cell Vehicles)

2. ISO/WD 14687-3: 2009 – Hydrogen fuel — Product specification — Part 3: Proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell applications for stationary appliances

Presently, no infrastructure for measuring these ISO standards is available in the UK and, as part of the announced project, ITM is now contributing to this important project by providing samples of electrolytic hydrogen as feedstock to the analysis process and hosting sampling tests. The project will enable NPL to develop innovative analysis and sampling methods to allow the purity of the hydrogen produced by electrolysers or other technologies to be determined to the necessary accuracy to be suitable for use in fuel cell applications according to the draft ISO/CD 14687-2 and ISO/WD 14687-3.

Once developed, these methods can be used for other industrial applications in the UK hydrogen industry where purity measurements are critical, for example, the use of hydrogen as a carrier gas in analytical chemistry.

Commenting on the joint project Andrew Brown, Senior Research Scientist at NPL said: “It is vital that the UK develops the skills and techniques necessary to certify hydrogen purity against international standards. NPL are pleased to be working with ITM in this field enabling evaluation of electrolytic hydrogen samples.”

Graham Cooley, CEO commented: “ITM are committed to achieving the right hydrogen purity for its customers. NPL is the best placed organization in the UK to develop appropriate gas analysis and provide independent assessment. We look forward to the results across our product portfolio.”

Karen Hall, Administrative Manager of UKHA commented: “This project is a refreshing example of companies taking the initiative and doing their bit for the UK hydrogen industry. Without appropriate analysis and sampling techniques it will be impossible to demonstrate compliance with the international standards currently under development.”

For further information please visit www.itm-power.com

Ceramic Fuel Cells Limited (AIM/ASX: CFU) – a leading developer of high efficiency and low emission electricity generation units for homes and other buildings – today welcomed the announcement that the Victorian Government has commenced a review into the expansion of feed-in tariffs to include low-emissions technologies.

A feed-in tariff is a rate paid for electricity fed back into the electricity grid from designated renewable and low emission electricity generation sources.

In Victoria there is a ‘standard’ feed-in tariff (equal to the retail price for electricity, or about 20 cents per kilowatt hour) for electricity fed back into the grid from wind, solar, hydro and biomass generators of up to 100 kilowatts capacity; plus a ‘premium’ feed-in tariff (of 60 cents per kilowatt hour) for solar systems up to 5 kilowatts capacity.

To date, there has been no feed-in tariff for low-emission electricity production from technologies such as fuel cells.

The Victorian Government has now begun a review to consider the cost effectiveness of extending the feed-in tariff provisions to low-emissions technologies, including fuel cells.

The Government has released a consultation paper and is seeking submissions. The closing date for submissions is 23 July 2010.

Ceramic Fuel Cells will be making a submission to this review.

Feed-in tariffs are being used in many markets to encourage the deployment of renewable and low emissions technologies. From April 2010 the United Kingdom Government introduced a feed-in tariff for small low-emission electricity generators, including fuel cell power and heating products. A feed-in tariff also applies in Germany, France and The Netherlands.

Last week Ceramic Fuel Cells announced that a report by CSIRO has confirmed the significant carbon savings from the Company’s BlueGen gas-to-electricity product. When operated continuously each BlueGen unit can save between 12 and 33 tonnes of carbon per year compared to the grid in Victoria. BlueGen also delivers many other environmental benefits: no nitrogen oxide or sulphur oxide emissions, and up to 95 percent less water used than coal fired generators to produce the same amount of electricity.

The Government’s consultation paper is available at:

new.dpi.vic.gov.au/energy/energy-policy/greenhouse-challenge/feed-in-tariffs/consultation-paper-review-into-the-potential-expansion-of-feed-in-tariffs

Ian Williamson, director of Air Products’ Hydrogen and Bio Energy business, was appointed as new EHA president by the EHA General Assembly on June 22 in Brussels. Ian is succeeding Lars Sjunnesson, who steered the Association form 5 founding national associations to an European hydrogen organisation of reference, representing  19 national assoications and the main hydrogen infrastructure suppliers in Europe as Shell, Statoil, ENI, Linde, Air Liquide, Air Products. Massimo Prastaro of ENI and Stein Briskebey of the Norsk Hydrogen Forum were appointed as new EHA board members. Ian in his acceptance speech emphasized the need to leverage the EHA’s European coverage of industrial and national activities to accelerate the uptake of the use of hydrogen throughout Europe. He indicated that the EHA intends to increase its network  opportunities between industry and national stakeholders as well as between associations.

McPhy Energy has signed a research partnership contract with the Institute CEALiten (Laboratory of Innovation for New Energy Technologies and nonmaterials). The objective of this agreement was to build two magnesium hydride storage prototypes and test them on an industrial scale. They will couple the reservoirs to an electrolyzer and a fuel cell during the test phase, simulating storage utilization of renewable energy.

The first tank with a 1 kg hydrogen capacity has been delivered on March 29^th 2010 by CEA-Liten. The second larger tank (15 kg hydrogen) will be put into service during the second half of 2010.

Target applications are the production of electricity in isolated sites, or peak shaving of electrical networks with an improved safety and no negative environmental impact (no release of CO₂ or wasted heat). With the nanostructuration of the material and the addition of specific additives used and developed by the teams from the CNRS (Institute Neel – CRETA – LEGI) in Grenoble, the systems commercialized by McPhy Energy can store large quantities of hydrogen at low pressure within tens of minutes.

For more information go to the McPhy Energy website.