Benefits and Markets
New Markets
Fuel cells are entering the market at a time when countries face growing pressure to adopt alternative energy technologies on a large scale. The challenge for the fuel cell industry is to ensure that it is ready with competitively priced performance-proven products as demand grows. The current market for fuel cells is about $2.4 billion and is expected to reach $7 billion by 2009, according to studies by the Business Communications Company of Norwolk, USA.
2004 markets fuel cells breakdown:
• $850 million - electric power generation
• $750 million - motor vehicles
• $200 million - portable electronic equipment
• $200 million - military/aerospace
• $400 million - other
Clean and Efficient
Fuel cells present the advantages of high energy conversion (40-60%), low greenhouse gases emissions, and being an alternative power option (reducing oil dependency for example) for distributed power generation (DG). In addition, solid oxide fuel cells ("SOFC") present the following added benefits: fuel flexibility (pure hydrogen is not needed and direct fuels such as natural gas, fossil fuels and diesel, can be used without reforming); simplified balance of plant; higher power potential, low or maintenance free; high electrolyte stability over a wide range of temperatures; flexibility of cell design; long stack life as all components are solid; and they do not require expensive catalysts such as platinum.
The main technological drawbacks of SOFC are its high operating temperature range and the lenghts of time needed to warm up. High temperature requires glass-ceramic seals and exotic interconnect materials (lanthanum chromite or high temperature stainless steel) increasing the stacks’ cost. In addition, to prevent component failure (thermal shock), slow start up time (up to several hours) is required before the SOFC system can operate at its optimal performance. Thus, most recent developments have been related to bringing the operating temperatures of SOFC down through materials development. Temperatures as low as 500°C have been reported (some even claim as low as 200-400°C). However this presents fuel management issues, such as the formation of carbon based compounds at the anode that then requires cleaning, for instance, by water flashing for higher efficiency.
In respect of stationary applications, fuel cells are ideal for power generation, either connected to the electric grid to provide supplemental power and backup assurance for critical areas, or installed as a grid independent generator for on-site service in areas that are inaccessible by power lines. Since fuel cells operate silently, they reduce noise pollution as well as air pollution, and the waste heat from a fuel cell can be used to provide hot water or space heating. They are highly efficient and low maintenance.
Fuel Cell Emissions
Fuel cells running on hydrogen derived from a renewable source will emit nothing but water vapour.