Fuel Cell Power Plant Major Processes

Figure 1-5 Fuel Cell Power Plant Major Processes... 

Figure 1 provides a schematic of the gasoline fuel cell power plant. The major subsystems include the Fuel Processing Subsystem, the Power Subsystem and the Balance of Plant. The Balance of Plant includes the Thermal Management Subsystem, the Air and Water Subsystems and the Controller and associated electrical equipment. 

Fuel Cell Power Plants. This is used by NES to facilitate the process of evaluating stationary fuel cell power plant technology for compliance to all codes. A few of the major codes are summarized below. 

Of interest is the view that the majority of the cost is dominated by the fuel cell stack and the fuel processing subsystems. Further, the primary cost reduction for smaller SOFC units will stem from improvements to the fuel cell subsystem, whilst cost reductions for the fuel processing system will be difficult balance of plant component costs reduction opportunities, such as compressors, pumps, sensors and heat exchangers, are considered to be fairly small. Similarly, other subsystems such as power electronics are considered fairly stable cost wise. 

Designing a catalyst for the selective oxidation of CO in the presence of high concentrations of Hz is a major scientific challenge. Nevratheless, the selective catalytic oxidation of CO has been used to increase the production rate of existing ammonia synthesis plants. This reaction network also is a critical element in the developing technology for Hz-powered fuel cells. In this context, the process is referred to as PROX (preferential oxidation). 

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