The U.S. Department of Energy invests 34 million U.S. dollars to develop small solid oxide fuel cell

Today, the US Department of Energy (DOE) announced the selection of 12 small solid oxide fuel cell systems (SOFC) and hybrid electrolyzer technology development projects. According to the announcement (FOA), these projects will receive approximately $34 million in government funding.

　　FOA is committed to the development of advanced technology, with the goal of advancing the small solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) hybrid system using solid oxide electrolyzer technology to the level of commercial hydrogen production and power generation. The agency is also seeking to use syngas from gasification facilities for SOFC verification.

　　The government is committed to using SOFC systems for commercial hydrogen production and power generation. Choosing to fund these projects is a big step towards this goal. "Energy Minister Dan Brouillette said. "Through cooperation with national laboratories, academic institutions and private companies, we have combined a large amount of experience and expertise to mature these technologies and finally achieve commercialization. "

　　 This research work also includes part of the US Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy (FE) SOFC project, which focuses on the use of coal and natural gas to produce high-efficiency, low-cost, and nearly zero air emissions. The common goal of the selected projects is to ensure efficient and reliable grid power while protecting the environment.

　　SOFC is an electrochemical device that directly converts the chemical energy of fuel and oxidant into electrical energy. They are unique in that they generate electricity through an electrochemical reaction rather than a combustion process. "This means that SOFC is more efficient and environmentally friendly than traditional power generation processes."

　　According to the DOE FOA released in May this year, it is determined that the selected applicants have obtained the highest technical scores in their fields of interest.

　　 According to DE-FOA-0002300, small solid oxide fuel cell system and hybrid electrolyzer technology development project, 12 selected projects belong to three fields (AOIs).

　　AOI 1: Small-scale distributed power generation SOFC system

(1) Provide flexible modular fuel cells for data centers and other key power users-Aris Energy Solutions, LLC (Mount Vernon, NY) and its partners, National Energy Technology Laboratory, West Virginia University, Gaia Energy The research institute, NASA/West Virginia data center will advance the standard of modular SOFC system and provide a clear way to achieve the long-term goal of reducing SOFC system cost. The project will emphasize the process from development to deployment.

　　 Ministry of Energy funding: US$2,659,212; non-Ministry of Energy funding: US$204,315; total: US$2,863,527

(2) A scalable solid oxide fuel cell power system that improves cost and efficiency-Cummins (Cummins Inc.) and its partner, the University of Connecticut, promote the research, design and development of a small solid oxide fuel cell power generation system 20 kW small solid oxide fuel cell power system application data center and commercial buildings. The goal is to show the way to achieve the goal of under 1000 USD/KW. The key components of the Cummins balancer system include cathode blower, anode exhaust gas recirculation blower, reformer and heat exchanger.

　　 Ministry of Energy funding: US$2,601,046; non-Ministry of Energy funding: US$650,261: Total: US$3,251,307

(3) Small solid oxide fuel cell system and hybrid electrolyzer technology development-Redox Power Systems, LLC (Batesville, Maryland) and its partners, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and AVL Power Transmission System Engineering Company, will use Advanced low-temperature/high-power solid oxide fuel cells and high-performance balance-of-plant components to achieve large-scale distributed power generation (DG) applications using 5-25kW systems. The goal is to make significant progress in the commercialization of SOFC for distributed applications by developing a system prototype demonstrator ≥7kW, and to reduce the cost of the system to the same level as the alternative technology.

　　 Ministry of Energy funding: US$2,660,653; non-Ministry of Energy funding: US$675,495; total: US$3,336,148

　　AOI 2: Hybrid system uses solid oxide system to produce hydrogen and electricity

(4) Low-cost, large-area SOEC stacks for hydrogen and chemicals-Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (Richland, WA) and its partner, University of California, San Diego, will manufacture and demonstrate high-efficiency 2-5kW solids The operation of oxide electrolyzer (SOEC), it can use steam to produce hydrogen, or use steam and carbon dioxide to produce syngas in electrolysis mode. In order to be successfully implemented, a commercially viable system must consider cost, reliability and lifetime. The goal of this three-year project is to reduce the production cost of the SOEC stack and improve the performance and durability of the stack, which will help accelerate commercialization and market adoption.

　　 US Department of Energy funding: 3,000,000 US dollars; Non-DOE funding: 0 US dollars, total: 3,000,000 US dollars

(5) High-efficiency, reliable and economical reversible solid oxide battery technology for hydrogen production and electricity production-University of California, University of California San Diego (La Jolla, CA) and their partner, OxEon Energy, will develop and Demonstrate an efficient, reliable and cost-effective reversible solid oxide battery (RSOC) technology for hydrogen and natural gas power generation. This new RSOC technology is based on a compact, low-cost stack architecture that combines high-performance and fuel-flexible reversible batteries that can operate efficiently in both fuel cell (power generation) and electrolysis (hydrogen production) modes.

　　 Ministry of Energy funding: US$2,999,125; non-Ministry of Energy funding: US$88,044; total: US$3,087,169

(6) Improving the performance of reversible solid oxide fuel cell systems-FuelCell Energy, Inc. (Danbury, CT) and its partners, Virginia Tech and State University’s Power Electronics System Center (Virginia Tech), will Efforts to promote high-efficiency and low-cost reversible solid oxide fuel cell (RSOFC) hybrid system technology for hydrogen production by water electrolysis and hydrogen power generation. At the same time, research in the following three areas: (1) improve the basic repeating unit materials (battery, sealing, interconnection and coating) in the RSOFC stack to increase efficiency and reduce degradation; (2) stack design improvements, especially in In the field of thermal management, it provides the potential to improve degradation characteristics and increase power density; (3) Advanced fuel cell power management technology.

　　 Ministry of Energy funding: 3 million US dollars; non-Ministry of Energy funding: 675,000 US dollars; total: 3.675 million US dollars

(7) Reversible solid oxide fuel cell system-NexTech Materials, Ltd. dba Nexceris, LLC (Lewis Center, OH) and its partners, Northwestern University and Colorado School of Mines, will put the reversible solid oxide (RSOC) stack The technology is extended to the level of large-scale systems (100kW or more) to achieve a hydrogen production cost of less than US$2/KG. Nexceris' battery and stack technology will be used in this project. Northwestern University will contribute the basic knowledge of RSOC fuel electrode materials and conduct long-term pressurization tests on RSOC battery packs before assessing the impact of pressurization. The Colorado School of Mines will contribute its RSOC system design, pressurized reactor functional test and system technical and economic analysis based on the demonstration system test in the project.

　　 Ministry of Energy funding: 3 million US dollars; non-Ministry of Energy funding: 750,000 US dollars; total value: 3.75 million US dollars

(8) Cummins R-SOFC system development-Cummins (Columbus, IN) will develop two new technologies to improve the standard of the reversible solid oxide fuel cell (R-SOFC) system so that the production cost of hydrogen can reach per kilogram At US$2, the total product cost is reduced by 30%. Based on Cummins' patented thermal spray metal support stack, the research aims to further reduce costs and improve performance through modeling and development of an advanced metal substrate. The project will improve the technical reserve capacity of the R-SOFC system and has the potential to commercialize the small-scale hybrid electrolyzer plant as soon as possible.

　　 Ministry of Energy funding: US$2,000,824; non-Ministry of Energy funding: US$500,206; total: US$2,501,030

(9) A highly effective and affordable hybrid system for hydrogen and electricity production-Phillips 66 (Bartlesville, OK) and its partner, Georgia Institute of Technology, will demonstrate a low-cost commercially feasible and efficient Reversible solid oxide battery (H-rSOC) system, based on proton conductor hydrogen and electricity generation. Compared with systems based on oxygen ion conductors, the unique advantages of this system include: (1) producing high-purity dry hydrogen without downstream separation/purification; (2) greatly improving the durability of the fuel electrode and eliminating nickel The danger of steam oxidation; (3) The conductivity of the proton conducting membrane is much higher than that of the zirconium-based electrolyte, which means smaller ohmic loss and higher efficiency.

　　 Ministry of Energy funding: 3 million US dollars; non-Ministry of Energy funding: 450,000 US dollars; total: 3.45 million US dollars

(10) The reversible SOFC-SOEC stack is based on the stable rare earth Nickelate oxygen electrode-Saint-Gobain Ceramics and Plastics (Northboro, MA) and its partners, Boston University, University of West Virginia, Worcester Polytechnic University and Gaia The Energy Research Institute will improve and verify the performance and durability of materials used in the active layer of reversible solid oxide batteries and battery stacks. The proposed project will use the results of the successful HydroGEN nursery project, which only focuses on SOEC oxygen electrodes, and has proven that the current density at 1.2V is 70% higher than the baseline.

　　 Ministry of Energy funding: US$2,390,992; non-Ministry of Energy funding: US$597,748; total: US$2,988,740

(11) Performance verification of thermally integrated 50kW high temperature electrolyzer system-Battelle Energy Alliance, LLC (Idaho Falls, ID) and its partner, OxEon Energy, Inc., will reconfigure the 50 kW BOP solid currently in use The oxide electrolysis system is manufactured by the Idaho National Laboratory. The operating power in electrolysis mode is about 30kW, and the operating power in fuel cell mode is about 10kW. The system will use the advanced SOC stack provided by OxEon. OxEon will add a new catalyst to the hydrogen electrode, which will infiltrate later in the battery manufacturing process. The composition and processing conditions of the catalyst will be verified at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which is a subcontractor of OxEon Energy.

　　 Ministry of Energy funding: US$2,999,610; non-Ministry of Energy funding: US$393,819; total: US$3,393,429

　　AOI 3: The cleaning process of coal-based synthesis gas as SOFC fuel and the single-tank and multi-tank test of synthesis gas

(12) With the technical support of Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Carnegie Mellon University and Ohio Fuel Cell Alliance, solid oxide fuel cell technology development-University of North Dakota, its partner National Energy Technology Laboratory : 1) EERC’s existing most advanced functions, including gasifiers, configurable synthesis gas purification technology, solid oxide fuel cell test benches and online/offline analysis systems, and 2) NETL’s expertise in identification and modeling Knowledge (through the JOULE 2.0 supercomputing tool) and quantify the degradation patterns of SOFC components. The main outcome of the project may be a synthesis gas purification system, which has been proven to be able to produce coal synthesis gas that can maintain SOFC performance on par with natural gas at (expected) commercially viable capital and operating costs.

　　 Ministry of Energy funding: US$3,999,944; non-Ministry of Energy funding: US$0; total: US$3,999,944

　　 (Original from: US Department of Energy, China New Energy Network)