Fuel cell power plant Introduction

The first demonstration-type buses having a fuel cell power plant were introduced toward the end of the twentieth eentury. In London, such buses started to operate in suburban eommuter transit soon after 2000. During 2001-2006, a program of the European Commission ealled Clean Urban Transport for Europe was run involving regular use of 27 fuel eell-powered buses in nine European cities. The success aehieved by this initiative led to the introduction of this type of bus transport in other eities of Europe, Asia, and North and South America. 

Nearly all fuels used to operate carbonate fuel cell power plants contain sulfur. Sulfur compounds deactivate nickel-based catalysts used in the carbonate fuel cell anode. Sulfur has a tendency to be chemisorbed on active nickel, forming nickel sulfide (as shown in Reactions 4-6). The catalyst deactivation causes loss of reforming activity and hence limits the catalyst life. For stable long-term carbonate fuel cell operation, the sulfur concentration in fuel needs to be reduced to a lower level prior to introduction to the anode by utilizing an efficient fuel desulfurization system. As a rule-of-thumb, sulfur should be removed to bring the concentration down to the sub-ppm level. 

Beginning in the mid-1980s, published work on membrane fuel cells increased rapidly. This was driven by several factors, one of which was air pollution caused by the rising automobile population in large cities worldwide. This situation induced legislation in some places, such as in California, that required the introduction of a certain number of zero-pollution vehicles. Major carmakers worldwide began serious efforts to develop different versions of electric cars and associated power plants based on storage batteries and fuel cells. 

It was in this context that attention turned to the development of new types of small fuel cells and to small power plants assembled from such fuel cells. The introduction of small power plants to domestic technical applications opened ways for a broad conunercialization of fuel cells, and with it a flow of new sources of financing that would support further fuel cell development. 

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