Q: Why have fuel cells
been receiving so much attention in the popular press recently?
A:This probably
is due to the dramatically improved energy efficiency and reduced
environmental impact that fuel cells offer. The popular press
responds quickly to the interests of consumers, who have an intense
curiosity about energy developments—such as new power sources
for automobiles—that may affect their lives.
Q: What is the meaning of the NFCRC’s
logo?
A: The logo reflects
the architecture of the building that houses the NFCRC.
Q: What do you believe
should be the primary focus of the NFCRC?
A: The NFCRC will
focus its activities on research, development, and demonstration of fuel
cell and advanced power generation technology, as applied to the power
generation sector, with selected efforts in the development of transportation
applications.
Q: How will the
NFCRC contribute to the commercialization of fuel cell technology?
A: The NFCRC will
conduct research critical for commercialization, provide a trained workforce
by educating students, demonstrate fuel cell technology to industry and
the public, and promote technology and information transfer from the university
and industry to the general public.
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Q: What is novel
about the NFCRC?
A: While the NFCRC
will have the traditional university center research and education components,
it will be novel as a university center by employing, as well, major components
in beta testing and technology transfer. The beta testing will serve as
a catalyst for bridging between research and commercial deployment, for
bridging between the university and industry, for capturing the imagination
of the international market, and for serving as a foundation for the technology
transfer. The technology transfer will offer an “open” information
clearinghouse for the market to visit and access.
Q: In what time frame should we expect
fuel cells to impact the lifestyle of a typical U.S. citizen?
A: Consumers of
specialized products and vehicles should be affected within the next five
years; the majority of the general public will begin enjoying the benefits
of more widespread fuel cell application within the next decade.
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Q: Are fuel cells
available in the market today?
A:There are several
manufacturers of fuel cells that will sell integrated fuel cell power plants
either today or in the very near future. These manufacturers include many
NFCRC Members with most selling only “demonstration” plants
at this time. ONSI Corporation, a subsidiary of International Fuel Cells,
sells the only “commercial” fuel cell power plant in the world
- the 200 kW PC25™ power plant. A few units are now approaching five
years of commerical opperation. The longest sustained operation has been
acheived by a unit located at the Hyatt Regency in Irvine, California.
The longest continuous operation without an outage exceeds one year and
has been achieved by a unit operated by Tokyo Gas.
Q: For what reasons
are people currently using fuel cells?
A: Most of the current
electricity production from fuel cells is being used in stationary power
applications like providing power to small industrial sites, hospitals,
hotels, etc. Other applications include space applications (e.g., space
shuttle), transportation demonstrations (e.g., buses, automobiles), and
portable power applications (e.g., portable computers, communications equipment).
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Q: What applications for fuel cells
exist in California?
A: Current fuel
cell applications in California include a Westinghouse, 25 kW, tubular
solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) installed at the National Fuel Cell Research
Center, eight (8) ONSI, 200 kW, phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC) installed
at the South Coast Air Quality Management District, the Irvine Hyatt Hotel,
Kraft Foods, Kaiser Hospital in Anaheim and Riverside, University of California,
Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara Jail, and Vandenberg AFB. M-C Power Corporation
has installed two (2) 250 kW, molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC) at the
Unocal Research Center in Brea, and the Marine Air Station Miramar, in
San Diego. Energy Research Corporation’s 2.0 MW MCFC is installed
at the City of Santa Clara, in Santa Clara.
Q: What potential
future applications do you envision for California?
A:. Future applications
of fuel cells in California will likely include a large fraction of stationary
distributed power generation units which will become increasingly utilized
in locations where grid supplied power becomes costly, either due to grid
overloading or remote location. In addition, fuel cells could play a major
role in reducing emissions in California if widely applied in automobiles.
Finally, individual California residents may be able to purchase fuel cells
for their homes in the near future, to provide clean, efficient and reliable
electricity from natural gas already supplied to the home.
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Q: What future applications
are likely in the U.S. and international markets?
A: The international
market for power generation is much larger than the domestic
market. This us due primarily to the fact that most countries
(in particular, developing countries) do not have the widespread
utility grid of the U.S. Many countries are attempting to electrify
their more remote areas and increase their industrial output
requiring increased power generation. In addition, since these
countries do not have an extensive electrical grid, distributed
power generation (to which fuel cells are especially well suited)
may play a more important role since transmission and distribution
line costs can be reduced in much the same manner as cellular
telephone systems, which bypass the installation of telephone
lines, is surpassing the use of traditional phone systems in
many developing countries.
Q: What fuel cell
technologies do you see playing a role?
A: Each of the
fuel cell types currently under development or manufacture, has features
that make it particularly attractive to use in certain applications. For
example, the low temperature operation and high power density of proton
exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) make them well suited for automobile
application. However, the increased efficiency and higher temperature operation
of either MCFCs or SOFCs make them more amenable to stationary power and/or
hybrid applications with a gas turbine engine. Therefore, it would be premature
and unwise to neglect supporting and developing each of the fuel cell types
currently under consideration.
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Q: Why are fuel
cells more efficient at converting fossil fuel to electricity than conventional
heat engines?
A: Fuel cells convert
fossil fuel energy directly to electricity whereas heat engines first convert
the chemical energy to thermal energy and then to mechanical energy and
finally to electrical energy. Even though the fuel cell can only convert
50 to 60% of the fuel chemical energy to electricity this is considerably
higher than the multi-step conversion process used by heat engines. The
fuel cell because it does not use a thermal energy step is not subject
to the Carnot Cycle limits that are imposed on heat engines.
Q: Why do fuel cells
exhibit efficiency improvements with increasing operating pressure?
A: The dependence
of the reversible cell potential is given by the Nernst equation which
describes mathematically the theoretical operation of a fuel cell. This
equation shows that as the operating pressure increases the reversible
cell potential or voltage also increases. The rate of cell potential increase
does decline at high pressures. Enhanced cell voltages are due largely
to the increase in reactant partial pressures and the resulting improvements
in mass transport rates. This phenomenon has lead to the use of hybrid
systems that marry gas turbines and fuel cells together. The gas turbine
provides a high pressure environment for the fuel cell while using on the
fuel cell waste thermal energy as its energy source.
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Q: Over the last
thirty years fuel cells have been funded against the promise that they
are a product that everyone will have in their backyard within the next
few years producing cheap electricity and water. What happened?
A: First it must
be recognized that there are many different kinds of fuel cell just as
there are many types of heat engine such as diesel engines and gas turbines
etc. By analogy the funding has been applied to all “heat engines” not
to any specific example. Thus the funding received by a particular fuel
cell type is a small fraction of that reported. Some fuel cell types are
presently commercially viable in special niche markets and as production
costs decrease the more advanced fuel cells will move into more widespread
use. However, it is unlikely that anyone will ever have a fuel cell in
their backyard for personal use. Additionally in the past some start-up
fuel cell companies have been guilty of exaggerated claims. As the industry
has matured more realistic claims and projections are being made as to
the commercial viability of the products being offered. Finally, funding
for other power generation and power technologies dwarfs that which has
been directed to fuel cells, primarily because fuel cells have not been
seriously considered for military and strategic applications.
Q: What distinguishes
different types of fuel cells?
A: Fuel cells are
generally characterized by the type of electrolyte used. The primary types
of fuel cells therefore include (in alphabetical order): (1) alkaline fuel
cells (AFC), which contain a liquid alkaline electrolyte; (2) molten carbonate
fuel cells (MCFC), which contain a molten carbonate salt electrolyte at
operating temperatures (~650oC); (3) phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC),
which contain a phosphoric acid electrolyte; (4) proton exchange membrane
fuel cells (PEMFC), which contain a solid polymer electrolyte; and (5)
solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC), which contain a solid ceramic electrolyte.
Each of these fuel cell types operates on the basic principles of reverse
electrolysis.
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Q: What fuel does
a fuel cell use?
A: All fuel cells
utilize hydrogen as the basic fuel for the reverse hydrolysis process,
converting the energy contained in the hydrogen fuel directly to electricity
while forming water as the end product. The source of the hydrogen may
be a fossil fuel, such as natural gas or gasoline; in this case, the fuel
must be reformed to produce hydrogen. Some fuel cell types (e.g., SOFC
and MCFC) can accept a carbon monoxide-hydrogen mixture that can be produced
from readily available fuels. These fuel cells also convert carbon monoxide
into carbon dioxide very effectively. Other fuel cell types (e.g., PAFC,
PEMFC) require a relatively pure hydrogen stream be provided as the main
fuel for the fuel cell; this involves additional processing of fossil fuels.
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Q: How does one
submit a question to the Director’s Q&A of the NFCRC Journal?
A: Please send
your questions to Clara Schultheiss, Program Administrator, National Fuel
Cell Research Center, University of California, Irvine, California 92697-3550.
You also may submit them via e-mail to cks@nfcrc.uci.edu.
Q: In addition to
the fuel cell power plant itself, what technology developments are needed
in order to apply fuel cells in stationary power applications?
A: Stationary power
applications of fuel cells will require the development of a power inverter
and grid interface technology that is efficient and cost effective. Power
inversion is required to convert the direct current (DC) power produced
by the fuel cell stack to the alternating current (AC) of the utility grid.
In addition, this grid interface technology must account for phase and
frequency matching of the AC produced by the fuel cell with that of the
grid. Controls technology for accomplishing the reliable and cost-effective
operation of fuel cells and account for the power production and power
quality of the fuel cells system are needed. In addition, reforming technologies
for the conversion of readily available fuels to hydrogen will be required.
This reformer technology will most likely need to reform natural gas as
the first fuel of choice.
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Q: What technology
developments are needed in order to apply fuel cells in transportation
applications?
A:Probably the
most important developments required for transportation applications
of fuel cells involve fuel handling and fuel processing. Since
the fuel cell considered the primary candidate for transportation
applications, the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, requires
a clean hydrogen fuel, stringent requirements are placed upon
the processing of typical transportation fuels like gasoline
and methanol. The development of compact, efficient, cost effective
and high-purity hydrogen producing reformer technology is a key
requirement. Another strategy which could avoid the "on-board" reformation
of liquid transportation fuels is the storage and direct use
of hydrogen. This approach would require significant advances
in the storage of hydrogen which may be accomplished through
metal hydride or carbon nano-tube storage of hydrogen, or the
development of crash-worthy high-pressure hydrogen storage technology.
This approach would also require significant development of hydrogen
supply infrastructure which could be avoided by the former approach
that would use more widely available transportation fuels.
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Q: What are the
principal barriers to the development of commercial fuel cell products?
A: The principal
barrier to commercial fuel cell products is manufacturing costs. Today,
all fuel cell products cost more to manufacture than similar, already available
products. This is due to several factors, including: (1) no economies of
scale, (2) no economies of volume, (3) the fact that fuel cell manufacturing
has typically been accomplished in laboratories, not in manufacturing plants,
(4) the complexity of fuel cell systems (in contrast, fuel cells themselves
are simple), (5) the high cost of materials (e.g., precious metals) needed
to make fuel cells, (6) manufacturing experience, and (7) optimized manufacturing
techniques. Another barrier is fuel flexibility. Fuel cells operate optimally
on hydrogen. However, they must be able to use readily available hydrocarbon
fuels before they can be viable commercial products. The absence of a history
of widespread use and the lack of general public acceptance of fuel cells
are other barriers. The market tends to be wary of embracing new technologies
without proof of their viability in practice.
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Q: What technical
issues must be addressed to overcome barriers to commercialization of
fuel cells?
A: Important technical
issues that need to be addressed include the development of fuel
cell products that use lower-cost materials, contaminant-tolerant
materials, easily manufactured materials, and materials amenable
to fuel flexibility. In addition to these material concerns,
manufacturing processes must be developed that will allow inexpensive,
high-volume manufacturing of fuel cell products. It is expected
that fuel cell systems will be constructed at sizes that would
allow manufacturing cost reduction through economies of volume
(not economies of scale). Innovative reformers and/or innovations
that reduce the cost of traditional fuel reformation technologies
are needed for fuel flexibility. In addition, the advancement
of fuel cell systems—including high efficiency fuel cells,
cogeneration technologies, and hybrid fuel cell heat engine technologies—that
could offer additional consumer benefits is needed. Lastly, the
majority of plant items—such as pumps, valves, piping,
controls, and power electronics (e.g., inverters)—need
advancement with regard to reliability, cost, and optimization
for fuel cell applications.
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Q: What other issues
could affect the full commercialization of fuel cell products?
A: Other issues
affecting fuel cell commercialization include yet-to-be-determined
rules and regulations regarding siting, insuring, and certifying
fuel cell products. Also, business issues—such as the
depreciation rate allowed to those who purchase fuel cell products
and the manner in which banks lend money for purchasing fuel
cells—will affect the introduction of fuel cell products.
In addition, regulatory issues concerning pollutants, such
as nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons, could
be made more restrictive and thereby facilitate installation
and use of more fuel cells. Another significant “boost” for
fuel cells’ entry into the marketplace could be credits
and/or financial reward for the aversion, limitation, and/or
reduction of global climate change gases, such as carbon dioxide.
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Q: What is a hybrid
fuel cell system and what are its advantages over other advanced energy
production plants?
A: Hybrid technology
represents the union of two separate power plants carefully developed and
integrated into a single unit. The union creates a synergy between the
power systems, exploiting the benefits of each. This advantage allows for
improved overall performance. For example, the NCFRC will soon acquire
a hybrid solid oxide fuel cell / mircoturbine generator system. This plant’s
main innovation will be utilization of the hot fuel cell exhaust gas to
drive a microturbine, which will then provide a high-pressure environment
to enhance the electrical output of the fuel cell. This system will operate
more economically than either a SOFC or MTG running alone. With most fuel
cell hybrids, the advantage over other advanced power generation technologies
is enhanced power production per unit of fuel. Instead of being vented
into the environment as waste heat or used for co-generation, the fuel
cell’s exhaust is captured and its energy utilized for the production
of electricity enhancing the overall system efficiency.
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Q: In addition to microturbine generators,
what other types of power devices could be used to produce a hybrid fuel
cell system?
A:Hybrid systems
that include combinations of fuel cells with power production,
power storage, energy conversion, or energy management devices
are extremely promising. Heat engines, like microturbine generators,
reciprocating or stirling engines, could run using a fuel cell’s
waste heat to produce additional electricity and/or pressurize
the fuel cell. Batteries and flywheels could be used to store
power and then feed it back to the system when energy demand
becomes high. Fuel cells can even be joined to other fuel cells
for hydrogen production and chemical energy storage.
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Q: What do you think
is the KEY challenge for the year 2000 and beyond is for bringing more
fuel cells into commercial use?
A: The key challenge
will be to figure out a way to allow the ideal hydrogen fueled
engine (a fuel cell) to cost effectively produce power in the
hydrocarbon-based economy that we live in today. This is the
most significant challenge with regard to integrating fuel cells
with available infrastructure, reducing the capital cost of fuel
cell systems through volume manufacturing, and achieving widespread
use in various sectors. The challenge manifests itself as different
technical hurdles depending upon the fuel cell application of
interest. For example, automotive applications will need to determine
how best to use the available infrastructure for the production,
distribution, delivery and storage of liquid fuels for fuel cell
automobiles. This challenge could involve everything from a cost
effective on-board gasoline reformer, to innovative hydrogen
storage technology, to replacement of the entire infrastructure.
A second example is that of distributed power generation, where
high temperature fuel cells which are quite fuel flexible need
primarily to reduce the capital cost of the fuel cell system
to allow them to compete with increasingly efficient heat engines
operated on inexpensive natural gas. A third example is that
of battery replacement where hydrogen storage using innovative,
safe, and high storage density technology will need to be developed
for widespread use of fuel cells in place of batteries.
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Q: Can Ethanol be
used as a fuel cell fuel?
A: Ethanol (or ethyl alcohol)
is a viable fuel for fuel cells. Ethanol can be reformed to produce a
hydrogen rich gas stream which can be supplied to a solid oxide or molten
carbonate fuel cell directly. Removal of the carbon monoxide in the hydrogen
rich gas would be required before it could be used to fuel other fuel
cell types. Ethanol reformation is easier than that of gasoline, diesel
or other distillate fuels since it is a pure compound and can be reformed
at lower temperatures. Ethanol is more difficult to reform than methanol
(a primary candidate fuel for transportation applications of fuel cells).
Also, ethanol has a lower hydrogen-to-carbon (H/C) ratio compared to
methanol. Ethanol, CH3CH2OH, has a H/C ratio of 3/1 while that of methanol,
CH3OH, is 4/1. The final viability of ethanol versus methanol, gasoline
or other liquid fuel for use in fuel cells will be determined by the
market price that the fuel can deliver and the useable hydrogen reformate
it can deliver. Today, both ethanol and methanol are more expensive to
produce than gasoline. Some argue that the lower cost of gasoline is
due to hidden external subsidies to the oil industry (e.g., International
Center for Technology Assessment, The Real Price of Gasoline, December,
1998; www.ethanol.org).
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Q: If everything
in my house, including my car, were run off fuel cells today, how much
money would I save on my energy bills annually?
A: With the high
initial cost of fuel cell systems today, and the amortization
of these capital costs spread over a 10 year period, the average
consumer would break even with regard to annual energy costs
if they were currently paying around $0.10 to $0.14/kWh for
electricity. The average rate in the U.S. today is around $0.09/kWh,
but there are many markets (e.g., remote locations, islands,
etc.) which pay more for electricity. If the capital cost of
a fuel cell system drops dramatically in the upcoming years
(a very likely scenario) then cost savings would occur compared
to lower electricity rates. For example if fuel cell system
capital cost was reduced to $1000/kW installed then electricity
could be produced at less than $0.04/kWh, in which case the
electricity energy bills could be cut roughly in half compared
to current average U.S. rates. These figures assume a constant
cost for natural gas and a 10-year amortization of capital
costs. The energy costs that could result from efficiency increases
in an automobile equipped with a fuel cell engine at the same
price as an internal combustion engine (ICE) are also roughly
half of the current costs. This is due to the expectation that
fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs) would obtain around 80
miles per gallon of gasoline equivalent compared to around
40 mpg for advanced ICE concepts. The hybrid ICE-electric vehicle
concept could also achieve energy costs of approximately ½ due
to similar projections for gas mileage (~70mpg).
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Q: What happens
if you’re driving an electric or fuel cell electric vehicle and
it breaks down in the middle of the road?
A: A breakdown
in an electric vehicle or fuel cell electric vehicle would not
be much different than that in a current internal combustion
engine driven vehicle. The breakdown in most cases would be expected
to occur less frequently and be much less eventful. For example,
radiator system leaks (which can spew steam into the air) would
not occur with an electric vehicle (or fuel cell electric vehicle)
that doe not contain a radiator. In addition, the systems involved
in an electric vehicle are less complex and involve fewer parts
or systems, so the breakdown would be expected to be less frequent.
For fuel cell electric vehicles, this is not necessarily the
case. The repair of an electric or fuel cell electric vehicle
is not readily accomplished by the typical mechanic so one might
in the short term be forced to use a certified mechanic from
the dealer and use a roadside assistance program (provided by
most EV and FCEV manufacturers today). In the long term one should
expect to have a wide array of skilled mechanics to repair EVs
and FCEVs.