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Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Explained

Solid oxide fuel cells use a ceramic electrolyte coated with special inks for the anode and cathode. No precious metals or corrosive materials are required. At high temperatures, air and fuel react through an electrochemical process to produce electricity and water without combustion. For methane fuel cells, methane and oxygen react to produce carbon dioxide, water, and electricity. Bloom Energy has developed solid oxide fuel cell servers that are easy to install, use common materials, convert fuel to electricity with high efficiency in a single step, and can use different fuels like natural gas or renewable sources.

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81 views16 pages

Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Explained

Solid oxide fuel cells use a ceramic electrolyte coated with special inks for the anode and cathode. No precious metals or corrosive materials are required. At high temperatures, air and fuel react through an electrochemical process to produce electricity and water without combustion. For methane fuel cells, methane and oxygen react to produce carbon dioxide, water, and electricity. Bloom Energy has developed solid oxide fuel cell servers that are easy to install, use common materials, convert fuel to electricity with high efficiency in a single step, and can use different fuels like natural gas or renewable sources.

Uploaded by

mohammed mahadi.a
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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In solid oxide fuel cell, the electrolyte is a solid ceramic material (sand).


 
The anode and cathode are made from special inks that coat the
electrolyte. Unlike othertypes of fuel cells, no precious metals, corrosive
acids, or molten materials are required.

 
 Next, an electrochemical reaction converts fuel and air into electricity
withoutcombustion.

 
A solid oxide fuel cell is a
high temperature fuel cell
.

 
At high temperature, warm air enters the cathode side of the fuel cell and
steam mixeswith fuel to produce reformed fuel which enters on the
anode side.

 
 Next, the chemical reaction begins in the fuel cell. As the reformed fuel
crosses theanode, it attracts
oxygen ions
 from the cathode.

 
The oxygen ions combine with the reformed fuel to produce electricity,
water, and smallamounts of carbon dioxide.

 
The water gets recycled to produce the steam needed to reform the fuel
and also generatesthe heat required by the fuel cell.

 
For
methanol fuel
 cells below chemical reactions take place:

 
Anode Reaction: CH3OH + H2O → CO2 + 6H+ + 6e
-

 
Cathode Reaction: 3/2 O2 + 6H+ + 6e-
→ 3H2O

 
Overall Reaction: CH3OH + 3/2 O2 → CO2 + 2H2O + electrical energy
 
for
methane
 as fuel:

 
CH4+2O2 → CO2+2H2O+Electricity
+HeatInstallation and Usage:
 

 
Bloom's systems are easy and fast to install, practically anywhere.

 
The current cost of each hand-made
100 kW
 Bloom Energy Server is $
700,000 to $800,000
 each.

 
The company announced plans for a smaller, home sized Bloom server
priced under
$3,000
 and the capital cost is
$7
 – 
8 per watt
.
 

 
Bloom Energy has developed a simpler way to
power data centers
 and
mission criticalfacilities
.
We are consuming electricity from the major source such as nuclear and
thermal power plant, solar energy, wind energy.
 

 
The first customer of the bloom box was
Google
. They use
natural gas
, but half as much aswould be required for a traditional power plant.

 
In
 EBay
, the five Bloom Boxes installed on the campus have saved the company
more than$100,000 in electricity costs.
 

 
Bloom Energy stated that their customers include
 Staples
 (300 kW), 
Walmart
, (800 kW),
FedEx
 (500 kW), 
The Coca-Cola Company
 (500 kW) and 
Bank of America
 
(500 kW).
The Benefits of Bloom Energy:a) Low cost materials
:
 

 
These cells use a common sand-like powder instead of precious metals
like platinum orcorrosive materials like acids.
 b) High electrical efficiency
:

 
We can convert fuel into electricity at nearly twice the rate of some
legacy technologies.

 
Bloom claims a conversion efficiency of around
50%
. A modern 
combined cyclegas turbinepower plant
(CCGT) can reach 60% overall efficiency, using a
multi-step process.

 
Sridhar stated that Bloom servers convert chemical energy to electrical
energy in
one step
  process.
 

 
He said the boxes have a
10 year life span
, although that could include replacing the cellsduring that period.
 
 

 c) Fuel flexibility


:

 
These systems are
capable of using
either
renewable
 (methane,
methanol) or
fossil 

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