Solid oxide fuel cells manufacture

Tietz F, Buchkremer H-P, and Stover D. Components manufacturing for solid oxide fuel cells. Solid State Ionics 2002 152-153 373-381. 

Batawi E, Weissen U, Schuler A, Keller M, and Voisard C. Cell Manufacturing Processes at Sulzer Hexis. In Yokokawa H, Singhal SC, editors. Proceedings of the Seventh International Symposium on Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC-VII), Pennington, NJ The Electrochemical Society, 2001 2001(16) 140-147. 

Vassen R, Hathiramani D, Mertens J, Haanappel VAC, and Vinke IC. Manufacturing of high performance solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) with atmospheric plasma spraying (APS). Surf. Coat. Technol. 2007 202 499-508. 

In the late 1980s, the DOE shifted to the development of advanced higher temperature fuel cell technologies, especially molten carbonate and solid oxide fuel cell systems. Federal funding for these technologies resulted in private commercial manufacturing facilities and commercial sales. 

FuelCell Energy is a partner with Versa Power Systems, Nexant, and Gas Technology Institute to develop more affordable fuel-cell-based technology that uses synthesis gas from a coal gasifier. The key objectives include the development of fuel cell technologies, fabrication processes, and manufacturing capabilities for solid oxide fuel cell stacks for multi-mega-watt power plants. 

Siemens-Westinghouse Power Corporation of Pittsburgh, PA developed and fabricated the first advanced power plant to combine a solid oxide fuel cell and a gas turbine. The microturbine generator was manufactured by Northern Research and Engineering Corporation of Woburn, Mass. The factory acceptance test was completed in April 2000. Southern California Edison will operate the new hybrid plant at The National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California-Irvine. A year of testing in a commercial setting will be performed at this site. The system cycle is expected to generate electric power at 55 % efficiency. 

Karakoussis, V., Brandon, N.P., Leach, M., van der Vorsf R. 2001. The environmental impact of manufacturing planar and tubular solid oxide fuel cells. J. Power Sources 101 10-26. 

SOFC can be manufactured in different geometrical configurations, i.e. planar, tubular or monolithic. Regardless of the geometrical configuration, a solid oxide fuel cell is always composed of two porous electrodes (anode and cathode), a dense electrolyte, an anodic and a cathodic gas channel and two current collectors. For the sake of simplicity the planar configuration is taken as reference, as shown in Figure 3.1. 

For the solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs), a number of environmentally critical items have been identified (Zapp, 1996). The carrier sheet electrolyte may be produced from yttrium-stabilised zirconium oxide with added electrodes made of, e.g., LaSrMn-perovskite and NiO-cermet. Nitrates of these substances are used in manufacturing, and metal contamination of wastewater is a concern. The high temperature of operation makes the assembly very difficult to disassemble for decommissioning, and no process for recovering yttrium from the YSZ electrolyte material is currently known. 

The high working temperatures of solid oxide fuel cells, between 900 and 1000°C, lead to numerous problems in the development, manufacture, and practical use of these fuel cells. 

W.A. Meulenberg, N.H. Menzler, H.-P. Buchkremer and D. Stover, Manufacturing Routes and State-of-the-art of the Planar Juelich Anode-Supported Concept for Solid Oxide Fuel Cells, Ceramic Transactions, 127, p. 99 (2002)... 

Buchkremer, H.P., Dieckmann, U., and Stover, D. (1996) Component manufacturing and stack integration of anode-supported planar SOFC system. In Proceedings of the Second European Solid Oxide fuel Cell Forum, Oslo, Nonmy, 6-10 May 1996 (ed. B. Thorstensen), European SOFC Fomm, Oberrohrdorf pp. 221—228. 

Single-chamber solid oxide fuel cells (SC-SOFCs) have attracted considerable attention in recent years as they have the potential to reduce the material and manufacturing costs of SOFCs [1,2], SC-SOFCs are operated with a feed mixture of fuel and oxidant gas, which no longer require the use of expensive and voluminous gas separators and high-temperature gas sealing... 

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