State-run GAIL is partnering with California-based Bloom Energy in the development of gas-based fuel cell power production and its deployment across India. Bloom’s fuel cells are understood to utilize on scandia-ceria stabilised zirconia – research is ongoing to optimise the technology.
Within Bloom Energy Servers, solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) use natural gas as the base fuel which is converted into electricity in a non-combustible process that significantly reduces emissions with minimal use of water.
Although the exact composition of the fuel cell is a proprietary secret, Bloom engineers told Gas to Power Journal that "the electrolyte includes yttria- and a scandia-stabilised zirconia, such as a scandia-ceria stabilised zirconia". These ceramic compounds are believed to offer higher efficiency than more expensive alternatives.
Server systems utilise solid oxide fuel cell technology arranged in multiple arrays of cells, each of which has at its core a 100 mm × 100 mm metal alloy plate between two ceramic layers. Each alloy plate is then sandwiched between two ceramic fast ion conductor plates and the production process is optimised to reduce the complexity of the fabrication procedures involved.
To produce electricity each generating plate within the fuel cell is coated with a green nickel oxide-based ink on one side, forming the anode and a black cathode ink on the other side.
Accumulating SOGCs to servers
Each of Bloom Energy's higher-capacity, ES-5700 SOFC servers weighs 19.4 US tons and is approximately 26 feet long and six feet high. They can output 200Kw of electricity and achieve over 50% electrical efficiency, when fuelled by natural gas at a rate of 1.32 MMBtu per hour. Continuous operation of these servers can be managed remotely, allowing consumers independence from grid costs by operating in parallel to the grid rather than on it.
The servers can run based on natural gas or directed biogas. Nox and Sox, carbon emissions reach 773 lbs/MW hour on natural gas, but the installations are carbon neutral when running on directed biogas, the operator said. Venturing to Asia, Bloom Energy already in late 2013 installed such a 200 kilowatt system for the Japanese telecoms and energy provider SoftBank Group at its M-Tower in Fukuoka.
Tackling India’s air pollution
Air pollution is a serious health hazard in cities like Delhi and the Indian government understands that it needs to tackle the issue by targeting the power sector to switch to natural gas, as limiting car traffic, e.g. through odd-even formulas, proved to be “of little help.”
Policy makers in Delhi expect that fuel cell technology will help reduce dependence from diesel generators. Dharmendra Pradhan, India’s minister of petroleum and natural gas, hailed the lower operating costs and carbon emissions of fuel cells. “We want this to be implemented in places like even our Parliament and also in areas like Andaman and Nicobar, where people are hugely dependent on diesel for power generation,” he said.
Bloom Energy CEO K R Sridhar pointed out that the average cost of commercial power generation would be in the range of Rs 13 per unit, compared to a higher cost depending on diesel.