MOLCARE development towards MCFC commercial power plants based on 500 kW standard modules

Fuel cells technologies for stationary applications are expected to play a remarkable role in the field of next decade energy production systems ranging from some hundreds kW to some MW. The interest in using fuel cells to produce electric energy comes from the advantages that fuel cells offer in terms of high efficiency, good behavior at base and partial load, very low emissions, modularity (easy adjustment of plant capacity to power-demand increase), and reduced time to be spent for plant erection. At least four types of fuel cells can be considered suitable for stationary applications. With reference to their electrolyte they can be classified as: Polymeric Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC), Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells (PAFC), Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFC) and Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC). Each of them works at a temperature level that is depending on the type of electrolyte. From a general point of view all the fuel cell technologies present, at various extents, the above listed advantages. Nevertheless specific features of each fuel cell type suggest to identify a specific field of application for each type of solution, in order to stress the potential advantages of any technology and minimize its possible drawbacks. Anyway themore » different level of maturity for the various fuel cell technologies does not allow an homogeneous comparison of technical and economical key parameters. PAFCs, due to their present commercial availability and operation experience, are well outlined in terms of performance and costs; on the contrary with regard to the other technologies--PEMFC, MCFC and SOFC--which are still under development, their commercialization is expected within a period of 7 to 13 years according to single technology maturity level (MCFC level seems to be more ready), kind of application, competitors, environmental constraints, etc.« less