[ additive manufacturing ]
Additive manufacturing amps up fuel cells , drives down cost
Keeping the electricity grid up and running through summer heat waves and winter deep freezes is an ongoing balancing act . Power lines that stretch for miles are vulnerable to wind and fire . Surges in demand for heating and cooling strain capacity , which can lead to blackouts . Air pollution is an ongoing issue . Although meeting today ’ s energy needs requires the use of traditional hydrocarbon fuel sources , alternative-energy solutions such as solar , wind-power , and hydrogen are rising up in the supply curve as the drive to decarbonize electricity gains momentum . Of these , hydrogen stands out , given its potential to produce clean electricity at a steady rate .
By Lynn Manning , President , Parker Group
A promising approach , now emerging from the research stage into commercialization , is solid-oxide fuel cell ( SOFC ) technology . The U . S . Department of Energy ( DOE ) has invested in SOFCs for years ( USD 750 million since 1995 , according to their website ) as part of the ongoing effort to decarbonize energy production . The DOE describes an SOFC as an electrochemical device that produces electricity directly from the oxidation of hydrogen , generally produced by reformation of a hydrocarbon fuel ( usually natural gas ), while eliminating the actual combustion step .
Basically , an SOFC acts like an infinite-life battery that is constantly being recharged – without burning the gas that recharges it .
Small package , big energy output
“ Solid oxide fuel cells are very attractive because they produce a lot of energy in very small packages ,” says Jose Luis Cordova , Ph . D ., VP of Engineering at Mohawk Innovative Technology Inc . ( MITI ). Working on a number of DOE-funded programs , Mohawk is a 28-year-old , Albany , New York-based company specializing in the design of high-efficiency , cost-effective , environmentally low-impact , oil-free turbomachinery products including renewable energy turbogenerators , oil-free turbocompressors / blowers , and electric motors .
“ SOFCs are compact and can be built at a factory , then transported to the specific site where they ’ re needed to support distributed-energy production ,” says Cordova . “ Contrast that with the usual centralized , multimegawatt power plant that takes billions of dollars and many years to set up . SOFCs are also very efficient . Unlike a regular battery , they don ’ t lose power over time because as long as you supply the reagents you can continue the electrochemical reactions pretty much indefinitely .”
Sounds ideal , and more than 40,000 units of 100-kilowatt fuel cells ( each able to power 50 homes ) were shipped worldwide in 2019 . But there have been bumps in the road slowing more widespread adoption of the technology : many SOFC components are expensive to manufacture and , due to exposure to the very gases that make their operation so efficient , they wear out frustratingly quickly .
Facing cost and durability issues
To help overcome such challenges , Mohawk has designed some of those critical parts for longer
30 Hydrogen Tech World | Issue 8 | February 2023