Power regeneration

Table 1: General criteria of selecting power regeneration

Criteria Description
Reliability
When the primary electrical grid network fails, power re-generation
must be able to supply adequate power
Life expectancy Power regeneration must last beyond its expected design life cycle in
order to reduce the cost of refurbishment
Operational performance
Power regeneration could run for long term duration with low level of
discharges and with good load capability
Safety of operation Safety of the well-being personnel, equipment and environment (zero
emission of hazardous gasses) are the primary factor of the operation
Cost of operation Low cost of operation since it does not involve any moving part and
require low maintenance


1.1.1 Fuel Cell
Fuel cell is an electrochemical device that powered by combination hydrogen and oxygen to produce
electricity and leave two by-products namely water and heat (Curtin & Ghangi 2013). Fuel cell is a
promising green and clean technology that could bring good contribution towards reduction of GHGs
emission and ensuring energy security specifically in transportation and electricity power generation
sectors (Curtin & Ghangi 2013). The basic operation of fuel cell is shown as in Figure 2.7-1.
A fuel cell consist of two electrodes namely anode and cathode which is surrounded by electrolyte. Fuel
cell operate when hydrogen and oxygen is fed to anode and cathode, respectively. This will cause the
separation of hydrogen atoms into protons and electrons. Electricity is generated when electrons travel via
external circuit while protons migrate to cathode via electrolyte which then reacts with oxygen and
electrons to produce heat and water as by-products (Gielen & Simbolotti 2005).


Figure 1: The proton exchange membrane fuel cell concept (Gielen & Simbolotti 2005).
Fuel Cell Types
The types of electrolyte used in the fuel cell will differentiate the fuel cell types. Fuel cell types can be
categorized according to their operating temperatures which are high temperature fuel cells and low
temperature fuel cells. High temperature fuel cells can be operated in range of 600-1000
O
C while low
temperature fuel cells can be operated in between 60-250
O
C.
i. High Temperature Fuel Cells Types
There are two types of high temperature fuel cell namely Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells and Solid Oxide
Fuel Cells. The characteristics of these fuel cells are shown in Table 2.7.1.1-1.









Table 2: High temperature fuel cells (Peighambardoust,et al. 2010).
Parameter Molten Carbonate Solid Oxide
Electrolyte Sodium/ Magnesium Carbonates Calcium/Zirconium Oxide
Operating
Temperature (
O
C)
600 to 7000 800 to 1000
Efficiency Range 60-65% 55-65%
Unit Power Output
(MW)
Up to 2 Up to 0.1

Power Density
(mW/cm
2
)
100 240
Electrode Catalyst Nickel Lanthanum Strontium Manganite
Best Area of
Application
Large Stationary co-generation Constant Stationary co-generation

Lifetime (hr) >40,000 >40,000
Capital Cost
(USD/kW)
1000 1500
Diagrams

Figure 1.1.1-2: Molten carbonate fuel cell.

Figure 1.1.1-3: Solid oxide fuel cell.
Advantages High effieciency High effieciency
Fuel Source Most hydrocarbons Most Hydrocarbons
i. Low Temperature Fuel Cell Types
Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) , Alkaline and Phosphoric Acid fuel cells are the three common
types of low temperature fuel cells. The characteristic of these fuel cells are shown in Table 2.7.1.1-2.

Table 3: Low temperature fuel cells (Peighambardoust,et al. 2010).
Parameter Proton Exchange Membrane Alkaline Phosphoric Acid
Electrolyte Polymer Membrane Potassium Hydroxide Phosphoric Acid
Operating Temperature (
O
C) 50-80 60-90 160-220
Efficiency Range (%) 45-60 40-60 55
Unit Output(kW) 50-250 0.3-5 Up to 200
Power Density (mW/cm
2
) 350 100-200 200
Electrode Catalyst Platinum Platinum Platinum
Best Area of Application Stationary Power Generation / Mobile Use in Apollo spacecraft to provide
electricity and drinking water
Stationary Power Generation
Lifetime (hr) >40,000 >10,000 >40,000
Capital Cost (USD/kW) >200 >200 3000
Diagrams




Advantages Low temperature & quick start-up High performance High tolerance to impurities in hydrogen
Fuel Source Pure Hydrogen Pure Hydrogen Pure Hydrogen
Source: http://mypages.iit.edu/~smart/garrear/fuelcells.htm
Figure 1.1.1-4: PEM fuel cell. Figure 1.1.1-5: Alkaline
Figure 1.1.1-6: Phosphoric fuel

Balance of Plant of Hydrogen Fuel Cells
There are several additional equipments that are required to be integrated with fuel cell because fuel
itself cannot generate electricity. This additional equipments is known as balance of plant.
Table 4: Balance of plant of hydrogen fuel cells
Components Description
Storage Tank Require high pressure hydrogen tanks or cryogenic hydrogen storage tanks
Pump Pump the reactant air through the stack and provide cooling system
Compressor Require high power compressor to handle high air and fuel flow rates.
Battery/DC Require battery/ additional electric supply to operate pump, compressor and
to start up the fuel cell until it reachs its operating temperature
Sensor Monitor temperature, pressure, fluid and gas flow, voltage
Filter To remove any contaminant from fuels supplies

Advantages of Hydrogen Fuel Cells over diesel generators
Hydrogen fuel cell is practically emits zero GHGs since it does not involve any combustion process. It
could generate electricity with approximately 55% efficiency with water as its by-product. Fuel cell
could be beneficial as it can be used as energy back up to supply adequate electricity power when the
grid networks fail for a certain period of time. For instant power outage has occurred in 2006 caused
by earthquake in Venezuela. Hydrogen fuel cells have been successfully operated to supply adequate
power to local resident (Jingsheng & Xingjie 2011).
Despite the fact that fuel cell is zero GHGs emission it also has several advantages over diesel power
generator in term of size, operating temperature and cost. The present of fuel cell as generator will
only leave a small foot print as it content high density power in a small size. For example, a total of
11.2MW generated by four fuel cells energy DFC3000 have been installed on one acre of land in San
Diego, USA which is equivalent to 15.51 tennis double courts size (Curtin & Ghangi 2013). In
addition, fuel cell has greater reliability than diesel power generator as it could operate at large
temperature range which is between -40
O
C and 40
O
C, hence this will make it more reliable to be used
almost everywhere in the world (Jingsheng & Xingjie 2011). Besides that, fuel cell has no moving
parts. In term of maintenance cost, this will be a great advantage of using fuel cells as power back-up
generator over diesel generator since diesel generator requires regular maintenance (Jingsheng &
Xingjie 2011). Additionally, the price of electricity generated by fuel cell is lower than the price of
utility electricity. For instant, for 1MW fuel cell installed in San Jose, California, fuel cells only
cost USD 0.11 per kilowatt-hour (kWh) as compared to utility electricity price (0.14kWh)
which saved more than USD810, 000 for the first 10 months of operation.

1.1.2 Hydrogen Powered I nternal Combustion Generator
Hydrogen has potential to be used as primary fuel in internal combustion engine generator to re-
generate electricity due its properties of high energy contents per unit mass. This principle is similar
to the internal combustion engine for vehicle except the fact that the purpose of internal combustion
engine generator is to generate electricity. Nevertheless, large quantity of hydrogen must be supplied
to the engine in order to generate adequate electricity. With minor modification to the engine of the
generator, electricity can be generated through hydrogen powered rotary generators (Woo & Lee
2009). This can be presented as in Figure

Figure 7 Hydrogen power internal combustion generator concept
Source: http://www.mpoweruk.com/hydrogen_fuel.htm
Hydrogen powered internal combustion engine is 20% more efficient than gasoline powered internal
combustion engine because of both of the compression ratio and specific heat ration of hydrogen are
larger than gasoline. This is due to ability of hydrogen to burn in lean mixtures with low self-emission
temperature (Barbir 2000). Equation below shows the ideal thermal efficiency of an internal
combustion engine:
(

Where,
compression ratio
specific heat ratio

Nevertheless, due to low energy content in the stoichiometric mixture inside the engines cylinder, the
use of hydrogen as fuel in the internal combustion engine has resulting in the loss of 15% power as
compared to gasoline. Yet, the performance of the engine can be enhanced by injecting liquid
hydrogen to the engine. This will increase the power output of the engine by nearly 33.3% (Norbeck
et al. 1996).

In 2002, Ballard Power System and Ford Power Products has introduced the worlds first hydrogen
fuelled internal combustion engine generator set which is known as Ballards Ecostar (see Figure
2.7.2-2). This gen-set runs on 6.8-litre Ford production engine that has been modified and warranted

by Ford Products to run on hydrogen that can produce approximately 114kVA power (equivalent to
114kW with power factor of 1) at certain voltage level and phase. Hence, this gen-set could be
utilized for auxiliary power generator that provides clean and green power generation (Daly 2014).

Figure 8: Ballard's Ecostar
Source: http://news.thomasnet.com/fullstory/Hydrogen-Generator-Set-provides-clean-power-for-utilities-16540