What is a fuel cell?

A fuel cell produces electricity from fuel and air. The simplest fuel cell produces electricity from hydrogen and air with water as the only by-product.

Where can fuel cells be used?

Fuel cells in general can be used in many different circumstances, depending on the type of fuel cell. Topsoe Fuel Cell focuses on SOFC fuel cells, which can be used in:

• Auxiliary power units (APUs) provide electricity where there is no access to grid power. Fuel cell based APUs can be used on, for instance, long-haul trucks to generate power during breaks.
  
  
• Micro combined heat and power units may be scaled to meet the electricity demand in single family households. Combined heat and power generation for households is one of the most efficient ways to meet residential energy requirements.
  
  
• Distributed generation using SOFC technology offers efficient power generation, for example hospitals, shopping malls, in apartment buildings and in areas with low power capacity.

Fuel cells and the environment

Fuel cells operate on a variety of fuels including natural gas, biogas or biomass, meaning that fuel cells can be used within the existing energy infrastructure.

The SOFC technology has high energy efficiency. When fuel cells generate electricity from natural gas the fuel cell uses only 50% of the natural gas needed to produce the same amount of electricity generated from a conventional gas motor.

Fuel cells operate without emission of sulphurous and nitrous gasses and particles.

Case: Energy project in Waasa

The New Energy project in Waasa, Finland, uses landfill gas as feed stock for a 20 kW SOFC unit. The unit contains the SOFC technology from Topsoe Fuel Cell and is made by Wärtsilä.

The landfill gas contains various hydrocarbons and demonstrates the possibilities of the SOFC technology with ultra low CO₂ emission. Using landfill gas and the SOFC unit instead of for instance natural gas, makes the CO₂ emission close to zero, annually saving between 20 and 40 tonnes of CO₂ emission.