SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY "The best way to achieve excellence is to pursue excellence and exude excellence in your everyday conversation and in your questioning of your research students," he says. "We are driven not just by pure science; we are driven by the zeal to communicate it." As director of the Royal Institution, Thomas continued the tradition initiated by Faraday in 1826 of mounting Friday evening discourses. He also introduced new ventures such as the popular lunchtime lectures by distinguished scientists to lay audiences. His Christmas lectures on crystals for young people at the Royal Institution in 1987 were televised nationally in Britain. "I lecture more to schoolchildren now than I do to university students," he says. "I carry out lecture demonstraThomas: pursue chemistry with a passion tions and I try to inspire them." In 1990, he was instrumental in the chemistry started here. Faraday pro- mounting of the Christmas lectures in duced chlorobenzene by allowing light Tokyo. "I am very proud of this," says from the ceiling to impinge on a flask Thomas. "The lectures have been part filled with chlorine and benzene. All the of the regular scene there ever since. things that make life so easy now—the They are broadcast on Japanese televifax machine, e-mail, radio, television, sion and given tremendous publicity." and the electric light—resulted from Faraday's discovery of the link between electricity and magnetism/' Thomas believes that elitism in intellectual endeavor is inevitable and should be fostered. Speaking at the ACS national meeting in Anaheim last April about the qualities that ensure good research, Joseph Haggin, C&EN Chicago he said: "Hire the best, give them intellectual freedom, engender a happy enviA major change in the basic strucronment where people can thrive, and / % hire of the electric power indusshow human decency." J L J L try is on the horizon. Four U.S. "A center of excellence is created when companies are demonstrating robust good people congregate somewhere, and power plants up to several megawatts they in turn attract other good people. in size, based on electrochemical fuel That's how the colleges in Oxford and cells. If commercialization succeeds, by Cambridge work so well," he says. the end of the century distributed powHe points out that Peterhouse has er production will benefit the environfour living Nobel Laureates, more than ment and provide lower production any other college in Oxford or Cam- costs for power producers. A leading bridge. All won the Nobel Prize in candidate for producing electricity is Chemistry. In 1952, Peterhouse biochem- the molten carbonate fuel cell (MCFC). Virtually all developed countries ist Archer J. P. Martin won the prize with Richard L. M. Synge for developing have a fuel-cell development program the technique of paper chromatography. in progress. Four major types of fuel Sir John C. Kendrew and Sir Max F. cells are involved: MCFCs, phosphoric Perutz, both of Peterhouse, shared the acid fuel cells (PAFC), solid oxide fuel chemistry prize in 1962 for the X-ray cells (SOFC), and polymer electrolyte study of the structure of hemoproteins. fuel cells (PEFC). Each type has preIn 1982, Peterhouse's Sir Aaron Klug ferred applications but there is considwon the prize for developments in erable overlap. For commercial electric electron microscopy and the study of power production, MCFCs are emerging as the preferred type, primarily for acid-protein complexes.
Thomas has strong opinions about the poor public image of chemistry. "The press has played a big role in coloring people's attitudes toward chemists. They preach the message that the word 'chemical' has a pejorative meaning." He points out that nitrous oxide, the first anesthetic used in medicine, was demonstrated by Davy at the Royal Institution. "Anesthetics are chemicals, vitamins are chemicals, and antibiotics are chemicals," he continues. "But we don't give that message. That presentation of what the chemist does has been bitterly distorted, and we are in real danger now of having to fight against what you might call the fundamentalism of single-mission ginger groups who are dedicated to stopping the production of certain chemicals however safe you make it. We're living in a strange world." He believes it is a matter of scientific literacy in the end. "We must try to address this kind of problem constantly and in all sorts of subtle ways. We need to preach the message. I know it sounds terribly earnest and naive but that's why I believe in popularizing science." •
Fuel-cell development reaches demonstration stage
28
AUGUST 7,1995 C&EN
economic reasons. PEFCs appear headed for eventual application in vehicle propulsion. All fuel-cell types are environmentally friendly compared with conventional applications of fossil fuel combustion. "In 20 years, power generation plants will be much smaller than they now are and will be decentralized throughout an electric utility's service area," says Paul B. Tarman, recently retired president and chief executive officer of M-C Power Corp., based near Chicago. "The utility industry is undergoing great changes as the result of deregulation and competition, and lower costs are the key to survival. The vertically integrated power utility could easily break down into separate generation, transmission, and distribution companies." And distributed power isn't limited to a future scenario. Tarman notes that during the past few years, distributed power has accounted for about half of the new generating capacity in the U.S.
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M-C Power received an additional DOE grant of $104 million to produce a 1-MW MCFC power plant in coop eration with Bechtel Corp., Stewart & Stevenson Services Inc., and the Insti tute of Gas Technology. The plant will be located at facilities owned by Southern California Edison in River side, Calif. M-C Power already has a 250-kW unit starting up in Brea, Calif., at the Unocal Science & Technology Center. Another unit is scheduled for startup in 1996 at the Miramar Naval Air Sta tion in San Diego. These units are con sidered commercial demonstration plants. The projected cost, based on the demonstrations, is $1,679 per kW, a fig ure that has attracted the interest of the power industry, currently in the throes of deregulation and looking for new technology to lower its production costs to a more competitive level. Japan seems to favor PAFCs, al though it is also interested in other types of fuel cells. The Japanese have formed several joint ventures with U.S. companies and are aggressively pursu ing fuel-cell development, including a 24.5% stake in M-C Power by Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries. Of the 10 small demonstration pro grams operating in Europe, one of the more interesting is the German pro gram. Germany is making a major ef fort to develop a hydrogen economy, and a government /industry consor tium has built a hydrogen technology and fuel-cell test facility in Bayern. The consortium includes Siemens, Deutsch Aerospace (formerly Messerschmitt-
Bôlkow-Blohm), and Varta. DaimlerBenz is also working on a PEFC for automobiles. That company expects to introduce a prototype by 2000. Vincent J. Petraglia, manufacturing manager for M-C Power, says, 'The present development plan for M-C Power is to demonstrate the concept with 250-kW plants through 1996 and test a full-scale, 1-MW plant in 1997. If all goes as expected, M-C Power will be ready to expand the market by 2000. The overall efficiency of an individual plant will depend on the specific customer configuration. The minimum electrical conversion efficiency of the MCFC is 54%. If cogeneration of steam is added to the package, the overall efficiency rises to as much as 66%. If lowquality heat is also recovered, via hotwater extraction, overall efficiency could be still higher/7 A single-cell MCFC unit produces an electrical output at less than 1 volt. Stacking cells together in series produces the desired voltages. The magnitude of the current from the cell is a function of the active electrode area. Potassium carbonate, containing proprietary additives, is the active MCFC cell medium. When heated to 650 °C, the medium is ionically conductive. In addition to the reactions at the anode, the hydrocarbon fuel is reformed with steam to hydrogen and carbon dioxide in the reformer section, prior to entering the cells. At the anode, the hydrogen reacts with carbonate ions from the electrolyte to yield carbon dioxide and electrons. At the cathode, oxygen from proAUGUST 7,1995 C&EN
29
SCIENCE/TECHNOLOGY The active lifetime for a typical stack of cells is Power plant is based on molten projected to be five years. carbonate fuel cells In larger installations, the stacks would be replaced on a staggered schedule de to ac converter to maintain operational de power ac power continuity. According to Lawrence Fuel cell A. Jakaitas, manufacturing supervisor at M-C Power, Anode Reforming all operating units are now being built on a custom Cathode EH3EEI basis. Current production is about two 1-MW units per year. When the ex•— Turbo-compressor pected market penetration is achieved, continuAir ous production will be Heat recovery, steam generation S>t*iHM instituted. Exhaust There is little doubt that Fuel the MCFCs are technically Sulfur capable of providing large removal Steam chunks of the future electric power demand. How Water the market develops is rather speculative at presPower plant design combines electricity proent, but Elias H. Câmara, duction with steam cogeneration and air preM-C Power's new presiheating to afford an overall plant efficiency as dent and CEO, has quite high as 85%. Recovered heat may be consumed locally or sold. definite ideas. "At least in the beginning, MCFCs should fill a natural powcess air and carbon dioxide recycled er generating niche in the 1- to 3-MW from the anode reacts with electrons to range. Larger plants can be built by form carbonate ions, which replenish replicating the smaller units. The emthe electrolyte and transfer current phasis is on distributing the generators through the cell. rather than building power distribution The MCFC stack is normally main- networks centered on massive power tained at about 45 psia with conven- plants/ 7 tional turbomachinery. A 1-MW modIn any country, power requirements ule typically consumes 6.64 million Btu probably will be met with a variety of per hour of natural gas or the hydro- generating sources appropriate to the carbon equivalent, with NO x emissions country. Nuclear power, hydropower, of less than 1 ppm. The electrical gen- and fossil-fired plants will all have a eration efficiency, specified by Petra- place. However, other types of plants glia, is 54% based on the higher heating also require transmission networks value of the fuel. By-product heat may that MCFCs don't need. Therein lies a be recovered as 30 psia steam (250 °F) great virtue. When added to the miniat an overall efficiency of 57%. If lower mal environmental impact and comquality heat also is recovered as hot petitive costs, Câmara says, MCFCs ofwater, the overall efficiency may be as fer some advantages over other forms high as 85%. The 1-MW module may of generation. be skid mounted and is transportable Câmara also believes that distributby semitrailer truck. ed power from MCFCs should appeal Most of the design work for the to developing countries where there is MCFCs assumes that methane from nat- no distribution infrastructure already ural gas will be the fuel. However, says in place. The investment could be Petraglia, almost any feedstock contain- made with smaller commitments over ing carbon and hydrogen, including a longer period of time, thereby freemethanol, may be reformed to provide ing capital for other purposes. This hydrogen and carbon dioxide. distribution would be an advantage in 30
AUGUST 7,1995 C&EN
countries where investment capital is limited. M-C Power will be competing with Energy Research Corp. (ERC), Danbury, Conn., during initial market penetration. In April 1995, ERC broke ground for a demonstration plant at a municipal site in Santa Clara, Calif. This demonstration is being funded by a consortium consisting of five California utilities, EPRI, DOE, and the National Rural Electric Cooperative at a level of $46 million. The Santa Clara demonstration is scheduled to run until 1998. If it succeeds, 35 utility companies have promised to buy plants at $3 million per unit. Another possible customer on the MCFC horizon is the military services. The Advanced Research Projects Agency is developing a 30-kW MCFC unit to operate on military fuels (diesel oil and kerosene). One of the more concentrated programs is being conducted by the Japanese government in cooperation with utilities industries through the newly formed New Energy & Industrial Development Organization. That organization has the task of coordinating the development of PAFC, PEFC, SOFC, and MCFC types and providing development data for the appropriate manufacturing sectors of the Japanese economy. The government is involved in cost sharing for the development, in which about one-third of the purchase cost of an on-site cogeneration plant based on PAFCs is being borne by the government. Fuji Electric Co. and Kansai Electric Power are sponsoring a 1-MW and a 5MW power plant, respectively, both based on PAFCs. They also have two small, 25-kW demonstration plants based on Westinghouse SOFC technology. As a promotional tool, the companies and groups favoring MCFCs have formed the Alliance to Commercialize Carbonate Technology. Although Câmara acknowledges that the alliance was originally started by M-C Power, he maintains that the organization is now independent and membership is primarily from the community of utility companies and those involved in MCFC production. The major criterion for membership seems to be a profound belief that MCFCs represent a means for the competitive advantage that an early commitment
brings.
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