Definition
Basic
A fuel cell is an electrochemical device that combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, with water and heat as its by-product. As long as fuel is supplied, the fuel cell will continue to generate power. Since the conversion of the fuel to energy takes place via an electrochemical process, not combustion, the process is clean, quiet and highly efficient – two to three times more efficient than fuel burning.
Commodification
A fuel cell is a device that uses a source of fuel, such as hydrogen, and an oxidant to create electricity from an electrochemical process. Much like the batteries that are found under the hoods of automobiles or in flashlights, a fuel cell converts chemical energy to electrical energy.
All fuel cells have the same basic configuration; an electrolyte and two electrodes. But there are different types of fuel cells, based mainly on what kind of electrolyte they use.
Many combinations of fuel and oxidant are also possible. The fuel could be diesel or methanol, while air, chlorine, or chlorine dioxide may serve as oxidants. Most fuel cells in use today, however, use hydrogen and oxygen as the chemicals.
History
Origin
Sir Francis Thomas Bacon began his historical work on fuel cells in 1933, and he agreed with the assessment by Baur and Tobler, given that he set out to develop a hydrogen-oxygen cell that operated at moderate temperatures using alkaline electrolytes and improved catalysts. Bacon’s own account of the development of a high power density AFC e.g., 1.11 A/cm2 at 0.6 V at 240°C and very high pressures is both interesting and entertaining.
These cells employed nickel electrodes with a dual-porosity structure that along with differential gas pressures across the cell provided a thin electrolyte ?lm in the larger pores.
Popular Use
The development of fuel cells over the last century has been heavily in?uenced by external factors. Initially, fuel cells were seen as an attractive means for the generation of power because the efficiencies of other technologies were very poor. However, as the efficiency of these other technologies rapidly improved, the interest in fuel cells waned. Then, when the ‘‘space race’’ began in the late 1950s fuel cells were rapidly developed for deployment in space.
More recently, signi?cant technical progress in fuel cell technology has made fuel cells appear more viable than ever for a variety of applications. Additionally, concerns about energy resources and the environment have elevated interests in generating power with even higher efficiencies and lower emissions, and this has also raised the interest level in fuel cells.
Money Involved
Turnover
The global fuel cell industry is expected to generate more than $18.6 billion in 2013. Fuel cell sales will come from three main market applications: automotive, stationary, and portables. Projected sales could generate nearly $35 billion if market conditions improved for automotive fuel cells.
Use
Primary
Fuel cells have three main applications: transportation, portable uses, and stationary installations.
In the future, fuel cells could power our cars, with hydrogen replacing the petroleum fuel that is used in most vehicles today. Many vehicle manufacturers are actively researching and developing transportation fuel cell technologies.
Fuel cells can power almost any portable device or machine that uses batteries. Unlike a typical battery, which eventually goes dead, a fuel cell continues to produce energy as long as fuel and oxidant are supplied. Laptop computers, cellular phones, video recorders, and hearing aids could be powered by portable fuel cells.
Production
Laboratories
Hydrogen fuel cells are produced in laboratories that have been scaled up in size, but these processes do not utilize high-volume manufacturing methods. Components for hydrogen fuel cells are created by hand through a labor-intensive process.
Four subsystems are used in the process of manufacturing hydrogen fuel cells. These systems are the cell stack, balance of plant, power conditioning and systems control.
The cell stack area of production is considered the most important because it focuses on the fuel cell core. Electrochemical processes take place in the membrane electrode assembly (MEA). MEAs are thin materials, and they need to be processed through thin film manufacturing.
Balance of plant systems account for 50 percent of the total commercial cost for developing a fuel cell. Hydrogen fuel cells benefit from this already established manufacturing practice. This area of production focuses on supply and control of reactants as well as the removal of byproducts from the fuel cells.
Power conditioning is the area of hydrogen fuel cell development in which direct current (DC) power is converted into high-voltage alternating current (AC) power in order to power a vehicle. This particular system is already in use within the transportation industry.
Computer interfacing between the vehicle and the power plant achieves optimum performance of the vehicle's overall system. Integrated circuits and remote monitoring of major subsystems and components allow for lower cost assembly of control systems in the power plant and vehicle.
Challenges
Costs
The high capital cost for fuel cells is by far the largest factor contributing to the limited market penetration of fuel cell technology. In order for fuel cells to compete realistically with contemporary power generation technology, they must become more competitive from the standpoint of both capital and installed cost (the cost per kilowatt required to purchase and install a power system).
Fuel Flexibility
Fuel cells must be developed to use widely available fossil fuels, handle variations in fuel composition, and operate without detrimental impact to the environment or the fuel cell. The capability of running on renewable and waste fuels is essential to capturing market opportunities for fuel cells.
System Integration
Two key systems integration issues for the success of fuel ?cells are: (1) the development and demonstration of integrated systems in grid connected and transportation applications and (2) development and demonstration of hybrid systems for achieving very high efficiencies.
Endurance and Reliability
Fuel cells could be great sources of premium power if demonstrated to have superior reliability, power quality, and if they could be shown to provide power for long continuous periods of time.
Possibilities
Efficiency
DFC [Direct Fuel Cell] power plants are 47% efficient in the generation of electrical power and, depending on the application, up to 90% efficient overall in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) applications when the byproduct heat is used. Typical fossil fuel-powered plants operate at about 35% electrical power generation efficiency.
Environmental Impacts
With low emissions of pollutants such as nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur oxides (SOx), and particulate matter as well as dramatically lower emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), fuel cell power plants qualify under several environmental certifications established.
Reliability
By locating the power plant on-site and implementing real-time monitoring capability, end-users are assured of increased reliability, a necessary requirement for applications such as hospitals, hotels, universities and manufacturing facilities. Unlike wind and solar technologies, which generally have an overall availability of 35%, FuelCell Energy products operate independently of the grid, and have an availability of about 90%.
Fuel Flexibility
A number of industrial, agricultural plants and wastewater treatment facilities generate renewable biogas as part of the manufacturing process. Fuel cell power plants can harness the methane in this byproduct, and use the gas to power the system in lieu of natural gas, making it a renewable energy source.
Key Countries
National Fuel Cell Shipment
(data by MW for 2010)
1. USA – 38
2. South Korea – 27
3. Japan – 10
4. Germany – 8
5. Others – 17
Key Companies
Total Assets for Public Fuel Cell Companies
(in 2010 in USD)
1. Ballard Power Systems - 189.788
2. FuelCell Energy - 150.529
3. Ceres Power - 67.929
4. SFC Energy AG - 66.858
5. Plug Power - 59.177
Prospect
Outlook
The baseline for optimistic future outlook of the global fuel cell industry is the rising demand for fuel cells in the automobile and telecom sector. Various automotive companies are planning to launch FCV by the end of 2012 or 2013 with a target of widespread commercialization by 2015.
Besides the automobile sector, the demand for portable fuel cells will incredibly rise in the consumer and industrial electronics sector, which will grow to dominate the market in the distant future. Thus, the global fuel cell shipment is expected to grow at a CAGR of around 71% during 2010-2013.
Sustainability
UN Global Compact
None of the five biggest fuel cell companies participate in the UN Global Compact project.
CSR
None of the five biggest fuel cell companies have visible CSR policies on their websites.
Miscellaneous
Further Information
It may be some time before we routinely see hydrogen powered vehicles on our roads; it seems that the first cars aren’t expected to be in the showrooms until 2020 at the earliest. Elsewhere, however, fuel cells are already making important contributions to reducing conventional energy demand – and some of these innovative applications would be worthy of the technology’s Victorian pioneers themselves.
One Californian wine company, for instance, is using naturally occurring electrochemically active microbes to turn its winery wastewater into hydrogen, which is then fed into an on-site fuel cell. Strange to think that such a modern process – microbial electrolysis was only invented in 2003 – should fit so easily beside the invention of a man born in Swansea nearly 200 years earlier.
Transition to Globalisation
Leading the Way to the Third Industrial Revolution and a New Social Europe in the 21st Century
Hydrogen is the lightest and most abundant element in the universe and when used as an energy source, the only by-products are pure water and heat. Our spaceships have been powered by high-tech hydrogen fuel cells for more than 30 years.
Globalisation > Economy > Energy
Transition to Political Tools
Turkey’s Energy Policy in the Next Decade
Turkey is surrounded by three seas, another energy resource could be wave power. Certainly there are other alternatives, such as biological recycling or to find a way to use hydrogen as a fuel.
Political Tools > National > Turkey > Dom. Policies > Economy > Energy
Transition to Political Actors
Stationary Fuel Cells: An Overview
There are, naturally, a number of other countries and NGOs supporting development and route-to-market for stationary fuel cells. Some are working on government-sponsored research, whilst other nations are lining up to be amongst the early adopter nations. Interestingly, the World Bank has a large-scale demonstration programme underway to place stationary fuel cell units in developing nations.
Political Actors > Civil society > NGOs > Energy
