Megawatt-class (gas hybrid) fuel-cell power plant to power up for 2008

[jpak]

http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/Supppage7236.html

With a goal of converting up to 70% of the fuel energy into electricity, Energie Baden-Wuerttemberg (EnBW) and Siemens Power Generation are joining forces to build a highly-efficient fuel cell hybrid power plant.

Plans call for the construction of a megawatt-class demonstration plant, with the necessary groundwork scheduled to be completed by 2008. This will form the basis for the construction of an initial, small pilot plant that will be followed by the planned fuel-cell hybrid plant with an installed capacity of one megawatt, in 2012.

The efficiency of the hybrid process is significantly greater than that of modern gas- and steam-turbine power plants that reach an efficiency of about 60%. This high efficiency is to be achieved by combining a high- temperature fuel cell with a gas turbine in the planned hybrid plant in order to make more effi-cient use of the fuel and reduce emissions.

The project is scheduled to run for an extended period, and involves intensive background research to obtain the most favourable operation of stationary fuel cells in conjunction with gas turbines, making hybrid solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) a viable alter- native for commercial plants. After successful completion of the project, this hybrid technology will become available roughly a decade sooner than expected by experts today.

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[papau]

1. Why is putting natural gas through a "fuel cell" better than just burning it? And what does 70%

efficiency of capture of the chemical energy mean - does it mean that 70% of the chemical bond energy is recaptured by the electricity generated by the downstream turbine that uses the exhaust heat plus the electricity generated when the gas flows through the "solid oxide fuel cell"?

How does this compare to just burning and turning a turbine?

[LiberalEsto]

3. Here are some numbers from Wikipedia

"A typical large simple cycle gas turbine may produce 100 to 300 megawatts of power and have 35 to 40% thermal efficiency. The most efficient turbines have reached 46% efficiency" -Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_turbine

"They can be particularly efficient — up to 60% — when waste heat from the gas turbine is recovered by a heat recovery steam generator to power a conventional steam turbine in a combined cycle configuration. They can also be run in a cogeneration configuration: the exhaust is used for space or water heating, or drives an absorption chiller for cooling or refrigeration. A cogeneration configuration can be over 90% efficient." -- Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_turbine

[NickB79]

2. Good thing natural gas isn't a finite, rapidly depleting resource peaking as we speak

Oh, wait a second......

[LiberalEsto]

4. Natural gas is mostly methane

and cows generate a lot of it -- enough to make electricity to light and heat dairy barns in some places I've read about. Methane also escapes from landfills and can be captured to generate power.

[NickB79]

5. Ah, the old "cow crap to fuel" line of thought

As oil and natural gas production peaks, the number of cattle and pigs in this country, and the volume of crap they produce, is going to plummet over the next decade. The factory farms and feedlots rely on huge amounts of grain, produced cheaply from fossil-fuel-based fertilizers, pesticides and diesel fuel, to remain economical.

With the social and economic upheavals that will accompany Peak Oil and Peak Natural Gas, most of us won't be able to afford much meat, especially at prices much higher than today. Those factory farms will be out of business, and those sources of manure will be sold to market for slaughter. Most meat production that would remain would be ranching and family-farm based, and they need the manure to fertilize their fields. Most methane-from-manure power plants will sit idle for lack of fuel.

[LiberalEsto]

6. Ah, but there's sewage sludge

as well as landfull gas.

Mmmmmmm.