Release Date: September 17, 2003

Fuel Cells to Advance Zero-Emissions Energy in Tomorrow's Economy
R&D on Key Components, Diagnostics, Modeling Gets $5.4 Million Boost with 10 New DOE Research Grants

WASHINGTON, DC - Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham today announced a new phase of fuel-cell research designed to hasten the wider availability of zero-emissions energy. The 10 Department of Energy (DOE) research grants, totaling $4.2 million, will be matched by another $1.2 million from university and private sector participants for research aimed at resolving obstacles to fuel-cell use.

"The President's Hydrogen and Climate Initiatives envision fuel cells playing a prominent role in the economy and everyday life," Secretary Abraham said, "For that to occur, we have to reduce the costs of fuel cell acquisition and use. These projects address the most important priorities identified by industry and researchers, and were chosen for their technological impact and high potential for overall success."

Selected by DOE's Solid State Energy Conversion Alliance (SECA) Program, the grant-winning projects are focused on developing improvements in fuel cell materials and performance, as well as attaining target capital costs of less than $400 per kilowatt, all of which will make fuel cells extremely competitive with conventional power generation. The research projects selected were the most promising to emerge from SECA's Phase I concept screening research activities.

Fuel cells are a very-high-efficiency, multi-fuel form of power production that requires neither the burning of conventional combustion nor the mechanical equipment of conventional generation. They produce electricity through a chemical reaction involving the materials of their construction and a fuel. With hydrocarbon fuels such as diesel they produce extremely low emissions and with hydrogen gas no emissions.

Uses and potential uses include on-site electric power for households and commercial buildings; supplemental or auxiliary power to support non-motive systems of cars, trucks and aircraft; motive power for personal, mass and commercial transportation; and the modular addition by utilities of new increments of generation closely tailored to demand growth. In certain applications the high-temperature heat of the chemical reaction can be used to raise steam to generate additional power. Ultimate fuel efficiency in excess of 80 percent may be possible will full use in combined heat and power applications.

Successful scale up of SECA fuel cells will allow these ultra-high efficiency power modules to provide pollution-free electricity from zero-emission plants like FutureGen.

The SECA Program is co-managed by the National Energy Technology Laboratory and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory. The grant-winning projects are:

• Texas A&M, College Station, Texas, will design and develop a new class of power converters, which transform direct current into alternating current, to improve performance and optimize size, weight, cost, and volume of their application in solid oxide fuel cells. A prototype will be designed and built to evaluate the effectiveness of circuit and control schemes aimed at efficiency and reliability. DOE award: $147,149; Cost share: $36,832.

• University of Florida, Gainesville, Fla.,will advance understanding of mixed ionic-electronic conductor electrodes to improve their performance in solid oxide fuel cells. Final project deliverables will consist of software modules for incorporating an electrochemical model into solid oxide fuel cell failure analysis software developed by NETL, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, and used by the SECA industry teams. DOE award:$500,000; Cost share: $125,000.

• University of Washington, Seattle, Wash.,will continue development of tools that help optimize and diagnose solid oxide fuel cell cathode materials, with the goal of a stable, mixed-conducting cathode with superior operating characteristics. DOE award:$510,613; Cost share: $155,711.

• NexTech Materials Ltd., Lewis Center, Ohio, will develop methods to reduce production cost of powders used in solid oxide fuel cell components. Sample powders will be evaluated by SECA industry teams. DOE award:$500,000; Cost share: $125,000.

• University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pa., will develop procedures to evaluate the stability of current and candidate electrical interconnect materials; study the thermo-mechanical behavior of interconnect materials and develop an accelerated testing technique; and investigate "new" metallic materials as interconnect materials. DOE award: $496,534; Cost share: $129,082.

• Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va., will develop a low-cost converter for SOFCs. A prototype developed in Phase I allows for smaller passive components. Because the filter size was reduced and ampere sensors eliminated, a major cost reduction may be realized. Phase II work will focus on interface and communication to the solid oxide fuel cell controller, and the package will be refined to demonstrate commercial viability. DOE award:$224,613; Cost share: $56,968.

• Ceramatec Inc., Salt Lake City, Utah, will continue developing and evaluating metallic interconnects for solid oxide fuel cells by optimizing Phase I work. Phase II will enhance long-term stability of interconnect conductive coatings. Other activities include testing the material in realistic conditions that mimic the harsh environments found in solid oxide fuel cells. Final process verification will be performed in stack tests, and metal interconnects will be available to SECA partners for evaluation. DOE award:$499,887; Cost share: $124,972.

• Georgia Tech Research Corp., Atlanta, Ga., will establish analytical algorithms for modeling and simulation of fuel cell components and stacks to analyze solid oxide fuel cell failure modes, reliability, and durability. Developers could use the algorithms to determine reliability and life limits of cell components used in solid oxide fuel cell systems. The goal is to develop modeling tools that accurately predict fuel cell failure to guide designers in creating long-lasting, commercially viable solid oxide fuel cell products. DOE award:$500,000; Cost share: $125,000.

• Georgia Tech Research Corp., Atlanta, Ga., will enhance cathode design through mathematical models. The project will include making electrodes using combustion chemical vapor deposition techniques. DOE award:$500,000; Cost share: $125,000.

• University of Illinois, Chicago, Ill., will characterize electrical feedback to fuel cell stacks and its effect on solid oxide fuel cell performance, control stability, and service life. The project will focus on developing interaction-analysis techniques for cells, stacks, electrical components, and system-level parameters. Applicable to a range of solid oxide fuel cell designs, the models will be used to determine reliability and fault issues, and to develop control-and-optimization strategies to optimize design and reduce costs for solid oxide fuel cell power systems. DOE award:$300,000; Cost share: $195,424.