10 reasons why potential industrial and investment partners should examine our fully functioning scale model of
the Fuel Cells (Scotland) Ltd System:
1. The Market - $26 billion forecast
2. Competitive Cost Advantage - $500 per kW
3. Stack Flexibility - Uses any shape & size of planar cell
4. Unique Design Features - Solves problems that other stacks still face
5. Very High Power Density - 1MW in less than a cubic metre
6. Fuel Efficient Gains - Greater than 80% from CHP application
7. Total Scale-ability - 1kW to multi MW design range
8. Multi-fuel Capability by Integral Reformation
9. Environmentally Friendly and No Moving Parts
10. Over 3000 Hours of Lab Operation and 1500 Hours of Factory Tests
A recent Frost & Sullivan market analysis forecasts the European market size for CHP fuel cell applications as
$2.6 billion by the year 2010. World-wide markets are estimated to be 10 times as large. The Carbon Trust and the
DTI in the UK have also published market potential research papers.
Simplification of design and the use of commercially available materials will drive down the cost of manufacture
to around one third of current system. We can achieve a mass manufacturing cost ration of better than $500 per kW.
Fuel Cells (Scotland) Ltd has developed and patented a novel interconnect, that allows individual planar cells, available
from a number of manufacturers, to be easily, and inexpensively combined, both mechanically and electrically,
into stacks.
All connections for removal of electrical power, and supply and control of gaseous reagents, may be made 'in the cold'
out with the high temperature hot zone of the stack. The unique design also allows automatic monitoring and electrical bypassing of faulty
cells, which would otherwise result in complete stack failure. The seal-less design greatly simplifies
construction and removes a
crucial problem inherent in competing designs. Extensive IP searches reveal that no other stack design, world-wide, include these
features.
The stack is extremely compact, and can generate electrical power densities in excess of 1MW per cubic metre of core stack volume.
When compared to tubular designs, our planar based stacks not only offer greater compactness and power densities, but also higher
electrical efficiencies.
As the stack operates in the region of 800oC, high level waste-gas heat is available, and may be extracted through a heat
exchanger for steam raising (to drive turbines for further electrical power generation) or for hot water production, where a combined
heat and power configuration is envisaged.
As the stacks are modular, a range of outputs from watts to megawatts may be obtained by combining stacks in series and/or
parallel to
achieve the desired voltage. DC output may be converted to AC with inverters.
As well as pure hydrogen, all currently available hydrocarbon gaseous fuels can be used by introducing gas reformation within the stack.
The stacks are designed to have total synergy with whatever fuel sources are available thus making the technology non-disruptive to current
distribution infrastructures.
The solid state of SOFC stacks means that the operate in silence. In addition, they also have very low toxic (NOx) emissions.
Fuel Cells (Scotland) have a proof-of-concept stack that operated in excess of 3000 hours in the laboratory without significant degradation.
Our one tenth scale model ran for 1500 hours in factory conditions and was only cooled down to take it to the "All-Energy Exhibition"
in Aberdeen in May 2004. Our next target is to build and test 12 full size 2kW demonstration units for
combined heat and power
applications.