The term "fuel cell" may have entered the public lexicon in 1995 when Tom Hanks—as Apollo 13 Commander James Lovell (the real quote: "Houston, we've had a problem")—guided the command module back to Earth after faulty wiring caused an oxygen tank explosion and the loss of two of the craft's three fuel cells. This "successful failure" of 1970 brought the astronauts home but failed to execute the mission—a moon landing.
Exactly one hundred years earlier, Jules Verne, the visionary science fiction writer, predicted that "water will one day be employed as a fuel." Verne, however, proposed using a large cannon, rather than rockets, to launch the space capsule that was the star of his book From the Earth to the Moon.
Ludwig Mond and Charles Langer have been credited with coining the term "fuel cell" a half-century later, although their experiments with using coal gas and air as the energy source didn't pan out. In the early 1960s, General Electric developed a hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell for the Gemini and Apollo space flights that produced both power and water. Today, of course, high-efficiency fuel cell plants are sprouting like weeds and could actually overcome the unreasonable expectation placed on them: ushering in a new, worldwide energy economy based on hydrogen.
For the past 25 years, FuelCell Energy Inc. (FCE), based in Danbury, Conn., has been in the vanguard of companies seeking to make this revolutionary switch from fossil fuels feasible. What FCE is most known for is its development of molten-carbonate, internally reforming ("direct" energy converting) fuel cells (DFCs) capable of serving as efficient, simple, and cost-effective stationary power generation modules.
DFCs, which operate at about 1,200F, use alkali carbonates for their electrolyte, nickel-based compounds for their electrodes, and commonly available stainless steel hardware. They are typically fueled by natural gas, although other renewable fuels—such as digester gas—are gaining in popularity. All fuel cells produce few emissions other than water. In some cases, fuel cell-based power plants do not even require an emissions permit and may qualify for regulatory incentives or preferential rate treatment (see sidebar).
Walking the talk
What does a growing company that requires power and steam for its full-time operations do when unreliable utility service begins taking a toll on production and profits? Until recently, there were only two choices. Either you lived with the blackouts and brownouts, or you bought a natural gas-fired combustion turbine-generator and used it to make your own power and process steam. If you were lucky, and the energy economics made sense, you might even recoup some of your investment by selling a bit of juice back to the local utility at certain times.
Ken Grossman, founder and CEO of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. (SNB) in Chico, Calif.—where local pub-goers are legendary consumers of his product—found himself having to make that decision several years ago. His first thought was to consider using a gasoline-powered engine or a combustion turbine system to ride herd on his brewery's energy costs—especially expensive demand charges. The economics made sense, but Grossman was seriously concerned about the local environmental impact of self-generation, especially ammonia slip. So, he stopped short of inking a deal for a polluting engine or turbine to study other alternatives.
"While our brewery requires reliable power 24/7, Sierra Nevada also is committed to energy efficiency and reducing our environmental impact on the Chico community. We decided to buy and install a 1-MW Direct FuelCell power plant for two main reasons: its far lower emissions than those of a conventional power plant and its ability to produce the high-value heat by-product our brewing process requires." Grossman went on to say, "[A fuel-cell plant] was the most cost-effective and environmentally favorable on-site power generation solution for us."
Email
Comments
Print
Reuse
