FuelCellsWorks

Xin Li, fuel cell specialist at Cummins Power Generation.

Cummins Power Generation said mobile power products using fuel cell technology could be commercially available within two to three years, with larger 100 kW stationary units available in seven to 10 years.

Cummins is focusing on solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) products. These operate on a mix of hydrogen and carbon monoxide and can be used with existing fuels such as natural gas, with by-products being water vapour and a small amount of carbon dioxide. They offer advantages over fuel cells that require hydrogen gas, which is not widely available as a fuel.

Xin Li, a senior researcher in the fuel cell field who works as a technical specialist with Cummins Power Generation, said; “These units offered the potential to be manufactured at costs approaching conventional stationary power-generation technology.”

Cummins said its SOFC power system – which has been co-developed with US fuel cell manufacturer Versa Power – has the potential to replace diesel powered generator sets in many applications and can provide virtually silent power with significantly lower fuel consumption and exhaust emissions than existing generator sets.

A prototype Cummins unit has produced 3 kW of electrical power and ran for over 2000 hours at Cummins Power Generation’s test facility in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It operated at an efficiency of over 37%, compared to comparably sized small engine based generator sets where efficiency is generally well below 30%, said Cummins.

Xin Li said the SOFC solution offers numerous benefits; “The technology represents a highly efficient, clean emission (no exhaust treatment required) source of high quality AC power, which is compatible with other energy resources such as diesel generator sets, solar and wind.

“The power output is quiet making it more environmentally attractive than traditional engine driven generators, with low vibration levels, and the whole system boasts the added appeal of low maintenance”.

The California startup Full Cycle Energy is on a roll, hopscotching over its own platinum nanotube-based fuel cell to develop a new fuel cell that ditches platinum entirely. The implications for widescale adoption of sustainable fuel cells are huge, because until now platinum has been a major stumbling block. Platinum is the go-to material to make fuel cell catalysts, but its high cost and finite availability have limited the potential for fuel cells to break into the mass market – until now. Full Cycle Energy is one among a number of companies experimenting with new alternatives to platinum that could make fuel cells significantly more affordable in the future.

Fuel Cells and Platinum

In most fuel cells, platinum is the catalyst that splits hydrogen into ions and electrons. It is used as a coating on two electrodes. A membrane between the electrodes conducts the ions from one side to the other, generating an electric current. But platinum has already hit a wall in terms of both price and availability. It recently peaked at over $2000 per ounce compared to $2-$12 for alternative metals in development like nickel, iron and silver. According to Professor Doug MacFarlane of Australia’s Monash University, even if the price comes down there is a supply problem, as currently the global production of platinum would barely supply 1/20 of global vehicle production with raw materials for fuel cells.

Full Cycle Energy and Platinum

Full Cycle Energy is meeting the platinum challenge at both ends. The company is already licensed to commercialize a platinum-coated carbon nanotube fuel cell catalyst, PtNT, which is estimated to cut the cost of conventional platinum fuel cells by two-thirds while improving durability tenfold. The breakthrough discovery was made by Professor Yushan Yan, chairman of the Chemical and Environmental Engineering Department at the University of California, Riverside. Professor Yan and his team are also behind the new non-platinum technology, which has also been licensed to Full Cycle Energy for commercialization. Professor Yan substituted a high performance alkaline membrane for the acidic medium used in conventional platinum fuel cells, enabling the use of less expensive metals instead of platinum. The new technology has another key advantage: it can be used with a variety of fuels in addition to hydrogen, potentially including sustainable and biodegradable fuels.

The Future of Non-Platinum Fuel Cells

Professor Yan and Full Cycle Energy are just two key players in the race to develop more sustainable, efficient, durable, and affordable fuel cells that use little if any platinum. A team that includes Brookhaven National Laboratory and Washington University in St. Louis has designed a nanostructured fuel cell using platinum and palladium, Japan’s Daihatsu has been working on an alkali-based fuel cell, Oxford University researchers have discovered an enzyme found in mushrooms that has a catalytic performance equal to platinum, the company Lilliputian is developing a ceramic membrane that eliminates the need for platinum, and researchers at the aforementioned Monash University are even using the breathable fabric developed by Goretex in a platinum-free fuel cell.

AFC Energy, the low cost alkali fuel cell company, is pleased to announce that it has signed a letter of intent with European chemicals major INEOS ChlorVinyls to develop a hydrogen fuel cell project at its Runcorn Site manufacturing complex in Cheshire, UK.

The project is being commissioned as part of INEOS ChlorVinyls’ ongoing strategy to widen its energy portfolio and to seek out alternative energy generation methods to offset energy generated from conventional fossil fuels.

AFC Energy and INEOS ChlorVinyls will work together to develop a solution that will deliver energy from surplus hydrogen arising out of the chlorine manufacturing process. AFC Energy has already successfully demonstrated electricity generation utilising industrially produced hydrogen.

Ian Balchin, AFC Energy’s MD said “This is significant step for AFC Energy, having successfully demonstrated an AFC Fuel Cell system using industrially produced hydrogen, we are able to work with new partners. We look forward to working closely with INEOS ChlorVinyls”.