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Fuel Cells Commercial Availability
Table 1,below, shows a summary of the present and short term future availability of the types of fuel cell being considered in this project. |
Index of technical reviews |
| Type | Electrical output | Heat output | Fuel | Applications | Number of suppliers | Year available |
| PEM or Solid polymer + Reformer | 2-250 kW | 80 -100C | Methane Methanol Ethanol |
Transport Domestic Stationary |
10 | 2003 (2000) |
| Direct methanol | ? | 50 - 130C | Methanol | As PEM | - | ? |
| Phosphoric acid + Reformer | 200 kW | 200 C (60 C out) | Methane | Small scale CHP | 1 | 1996 (1992) |
| Molten carbonate | 250kW | 650 C | Methane Methanol Ethanol |
Medium to large scale CHP | 3 | 2005 (2002) |
| Solid oxide | 1-150 kW | 700- 1100 C | Methane Methanol Ethanol Oils |
Domestic to large scale CHP | 4 | 2005 (2001) |
Table 1: Summary of fuel cells commercial availability
Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells (PAFC)
The only commercially established fuel cell system of any type is the 200 kW PAFC system produced by ONSI corp. This system is methane fueled using natural gas, landfill gas, or sewage gas as demonstrated in California and Japan.
Solid Polymer Fuel Cells (SPFC or PEM)
Current development and commercialisation is most intense of PEM systems:
The world leaders are Ballard Power who are developing PEM fuel cells (up to 250 kW) for automotive, stationary, and portable applications.
Other suppliers include:
Dais-Analytic 3 kW domestic power
Anuvu Inc Biofueled fuel cells
Avista Labs 1-60 kW domestic and small commercial
De Nora Spa 1-60 kW
Energy partners Development
International Fuel Cells Parent company of ONSI corp developing PEM fuel cells
General Electric / Plug Power 7 kW domestic units on market
McDermott Technology Inc Development for stationary power and marine applications
North West Power Systems LLC 3kW domestic power
High temperature fuel cells (MCFC and SOFC)
Longer term development of high temperature fuel cells is being undertaken:
200-300kW fuel cell stacks may be combined to provide up to 10MW capacity.
Suppliers include:
Fuel Cell Energy MCFC
M-C Power Corp MCFC
MTU Freidrichshafen Gmbh MCFC
Ceramic Fuel Cells Ltd SOFC
Global Thermo Electric Inc SOFC
Siemens Westinghouse Power Corp SOFC
Sulzer Hexis Ltd SOFC
Fuels
Development of safe hydrogen storage is required before hydrogen may be used as a fuel commercially.
At present low temperature fuel cells require pure hydrogen as fuel and a reformer is necessary to convert hydrocarbon fuels to hydrogen. This is an expensive component of low temperature fuel cell systems. Direct methanol fuel cells are low temperature fuel cells which do not require a reformer, but these are currently at the research stage.
Development and economic viability
Fuel cells are of high capital cost but development and mass production should reduce costs, especially of PEM fuel cells. Hence PEM fuel cells may be competitive for domestic scale appliations where the cost of internal combustion engines is high for their output, or high value applications where the reliability and environmental advantages of fuel cells are important.
Fuel cell suppliers and product information
Fuel cell system suppliers are mainly based in America, Canada and around the Pacific Rim. Materials and components suppliers exist in the UK.
Due to the current development status and the potential markets detailed product information is likely to be confidential and difficult to obtain.