Direct Fuel Cell (DFC) Improvements Based on Field Experience

Abstract

FuelCell Energy, Inc. (FCE) is a leading developer of high temperature fuel cells. Founded on thirty years of high temperature fuel cell technology development experience, the company has commercialized its Direct Fuel Cell (DFC®) power plants to provide high efficiency ultra-clean power to commercial, industrial, municipal, and utility customers. FCE currently has DFC® plants at over 60 sites worldwide using a variety of fuels including renewable wastewater gas, biogas from beer processing, as well as natural gas and other hydrocarbon fuels. FCE monitors all plants remotely and can also control operation from the central operation center in Danbury, CT as necessary. FCE services a large part of its fleet under Long Term Service Agreements (LTSA). Data collected from the plants operating under diverse operating and field conditions around the world have presented an opportunity to investigate the performance variability of the plants and fine-tune the key components design, understand the key factors affecting plant downtime and take appropriate corrective actions to enhance availability. Founding on these and parallel technology development activities, FCE has introduced in late 2006 improved products with higher performance, fine-tuned operation guidelines, increased reliability, and at a lower cost. As part of the product overall cost reduction initiatives, the stack material cost has been reduced while the output has been increased by 20%. Further improvements in cell designs to enable additional increase in output are being developed for introduction into the product stacks at a later date.