Ceres Power

Ceres Power has designed and built an integrated, wall-mountable combined heat and power unit (CHP). The integrated CHP Unit is capable of generating electricity and all of the central heating and hot water requirements of a typical home, avoiding the need for a separate boiler. The CHP Unit uses the same natural gas, water and electricity connections as a boiler, and is thus easy to install. 

However, the mechanical self support of cells is basically provided by the thickest PEN layer either one of the electrodes or the electrolyte (Sulzer Hexis, MHI, RR, CFCL). Thick porous ceramic (RR, MHI) and metallic substrates and interconnects (Ceres Power) onto which a thin PEN is applied have also been suggested to provide the mechanical support required. The electrolyte and anode supported cells are nowadays preferred in tubular and planar stacks. 

The UK Ceres Power fuel cell based on ferritic stainless tubes or plates and a low-temperature electrolyte may also approach being shockable. (See Section 4.6 and the listed company web site. Also see the company history by Bance etal., 2004.)... 

A fusion between these direct hydrocarbon proposals and IT/SOFCs such as that of the Mitsubishi Materials Corp. (Section 4.5), or that of Ceres Power Ltd (Section 4.6), could make a hugely competitive, simplified and cheaper future system, with further major development potential to take account of the points in Appendix A of this book, that is fuel cells allied to concentration cell circulators, namely complete fuel cells. Such a development will await judgement of this book, and departure into the history of the application of combustion theory to fuel cells using isothermal oxidation. 

A company, Ceres Power Limited, see web site, has been set up to exploit the new fuel cell, which is described in its flat square form in Steele etal. (2001). In this reference, the efficiency theory is of the type asserted to be incorrect in this hook The initial aim of the Ceres cell is anode reform, aided by a pre-reformer, and, optionally, integration with modern small gas turbines. A replacement for the car battery is an immediate target. Direct hydrocarbon oxidation is over the horizon. 

The MCFC and, as in Chapter 4, the IT/SOFC are direct competitors for the stationary power role, with convergent operating temperatures. The MCFC is fixed at its electrolyte melting point, but see Ceres Power in Section 4.6. The modus operandi and the general arrangement of an MCFC are shown in Figures 5.1 and 5.2. 

Of the four new companies included in the survey this year, two (Ceramic Fuel Cells and Ceres Power Holdings) are focused on developing SOFCs for stationary market applications, and two (ITM Power and Quest Air Technology) are concerned with... 

The big investment is in the PEMFC, but Ceres Power in the UK is using its 500°C solid oxide cell to enter many applications (Bance etah, 2004). 

Bance P etal, 2004, Spinning out a fuel cell company from a UK university -2 years of progress at Ceres Power. Journal of Power Sources, 131(1-2), 86-90. 

Ceres Power (2005). Ceres Power Takes Another Step Towards Mass Production with New Contract. Ceres Power. 

United Kingdom Ceres Power (spin-off from Imperial College) 16 planar, CGO electrolyte for 550 C, metallic IC, metallic substrate sealing, cell, stack, manufacturing, system... 

A number of smaller European developers adopted the planar SOFC concept. This has now evolved into a high-performance technology, especially with the anode-supported variant. Development groups including ceU and stack manufactures have successfully developed the planar anode-supported technology at a scale above 10 kWei. These industrial developers include Topsoe Fuel Cell (TOFC, Denmark), ProtoTech (Norway), SOFCPower (Italy), Hexis (Switzerland), Staxera (Germany), and Ceres Power (UK). 

Ceramic Fuel Cells Ceres Power FuelCell Energy H2PIA Honda... 

A number of companies are working with SOFCs. Some of the main players relevant to this text are Ceramic Fuel Cells, Ceres Power, Kyocera, MHI, Rolls Royce Fuel Cells, Siemens Westinghouse and Versa Power Systems (Figures 2.12 and 2.13). 

Figure 4.3 Energy flowchart for central and fuel cell micro-CHP energy options Source Ceres Power...

Ceres Power (UK), an SOFC stack manufacturer, has signed an agreement with British Gas, funded by the UK Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), to develop and market SOFC residential fuel cell mCHP units. The SOFC stacks being developed by Ceres operate at a lower temperature than on... 

Figure 4.7 Electricity demand in three average UK homes Source-. Ceres power...

Ceres Power (UK), working with British Gas and also in partnership with Linde, states that this relationship is to develop off-grid generators. Though little else is currently known about this market strand for Ceres, what is known is that the unit under development will function as a CHP unit and could be fuelled using bottled liquid petroleum gas (LPG). 

Much has been published on ceria-based fuel cells however, to date, only Ceres Power Ltd., Crawly, UK, is developing SOFCs with ceria-based electrolytes, whereas numerous companies are developing SOFCs with zirconia-based electrolytes. Ceres Power Ltd. is developing a ceria-based electrolyte on a metal support, where the target operating temperature is 500-600 Ceres Power Ltd. is focus-... 

Doped Ce02 materials are candidates for the electrolyte for cell operation at temperatures below about 600 °C as discussed by Steele [29] and utilized by Ceres Power Inc. (UK), due to their higher oxide ion conductivity (Ceo.9Gdo.1O1.95 0.025 0 cm at 600 °C) compared to YSZ (<0.005 0 cm ). Gd or Sm doped Ce02 provides the highest ionic conductivity in Ce02-based materials due... 

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