Development and demonstration of direct carbonate fuel cell systems at Energy Research Corporation

Energy Research Corporation (ERC) has been pursuing the development of the direct carbonate fuel cell (DFC) for commercialization near the end of this decade. The DFC produces power directly from hydrocarbon fuels electrochemically, without the need for external reforming or intermediate mechanical conversion steps. As a result, the DFC has the potential to achieve very high efficiency with very low levels of environmental emissions. Modular DFC power plants, which can be shop-fabricated and sited near the user, are ideally suited for distributed generation, industrial, cogeneration, and defense applications. ERC has selected a 2.85 MW power plant unit for initial market entry. Significant advances have been made at ERC in the areas of cell and stack technology and system optimization. Development activities have progressed to the point where 130 kW stacks have been tested in ERC's subscale power plant, and subscale stacks have been tested in utility and industrial sites around the world. In addition, the world's first multi-megawatt scale DFC power plant was recently started. Two ERC subsidiaries have been formed to advance the have commercialization effort: the Fuel Cell Manufacturing Corporation (FCMC) and the Fuel Cell Engineering Corporation (FCE). FCMC manufactures carbonate stacks and multi-stack modules, currently from its manufacturing facility in Torrington, CT. FCE is responsible for power plant design, integration of all subsystems, sales/marketing, and client services. This paper describes the results of ERC's ongoing development and commercialization efforts.