Session B11
Paper 6100
Disclaimer — This paper partially fulfills a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering students at the
University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering. This paper is a student, not a professional, paper. This paper is
based on publicly available information and may not be provide complete analyses of all relevant data. If this paper is used
for any purpose other than these authors’ partial fulfillment of a writing requirement for first year (freshman) engineering
students at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, the user does so at his or her own risk.
SOLID-OXIDE FUEL CELLS POWERED BY NATURAL GAS AS THE
SOLUTION FOR CLEAN CONSUMER ENERGY
Luke Barone, LJB59@pitt.edu, Sanchez 10:00, Zane Kharitonov, ZVK2@pitt.edu, Lora 4:00, Nicholas Roth,
ROTH.NJ@pitt.edu, Sanchez 10:00
Revised Proposal — Electricity has been a vital part of life
ever since the late 1800’s when it was first developed. In
1882, the first coal fired power plant was implemented by
Thomas Edison. It has now been over one hundred and
thirty years since then and the United Stated still primarily
uses the burning of coal for the majority of its power needs.
As questions about the environment and coal dependence
rise while the industrial world continues to advance, it is
time for a clean energy that can power the world.
Therefore, we believe the future for global consumer power
needs is in the use of the clean fuel, natural gas. More
specifically, the consumer power industry needs to turn to
the new technology of solid-oxide fuel cells powered by
natural gas as a replacement for the current, outdated
system that requires the burning of fossil fuels for power.
The solid-oxide fuel cell is an innovative way to harness the
power of methane (CH4), the main component of natural
gas. Rather than burning the natural gas to create steam
that is then used to operate a turbine, a solid-oxide fuel cell
relies on the electrochemical process of oxidation to create
power. The solid-oxide fuel cell works more like a battery,
relying on the transfer of electrons during a chemical
reaction to create the power.
As of now, solid-oxide fuel cells have been primarily
used in small scale laboratory testing and by Bloom Energy
in production of individual solid-oxide fuel cells that can be
used in a per household or building setup[1]. The challenge
with this system is the high cost per unit, making this
configuration not viable for the replacement of the current
setup. The real advantages from solid-oxide fuel cells only
come when the process is scaled. Therefore, GE is
researching the idea of using solid-oxide fuel cells that could
create up to 10 megawatts of electric output [2]. This is
roughly the same output as a nuclear power plant. The
advantage with this setup is the cost-benefit gains from
scaling the operation. If perfected, this power creation
method could easily be integrated into the current power
grid system, also saving on infrastructure costs.
The importance of this new technology could be grand as
it has the ability to solve the expected energy crisis. Studies
show that this process is extremely efficient and it is
University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering 1
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predicted to have an energy recovery of up to 95%. In
addition to that, the process can reduce the greenhouse
gasses produced from energy production since the CO2
byproduct forms in a pure state, allowing it to be isolated
and stored underground in a process called carbon capture
and sequestration (CCS). These positive externalities from
this innovative method of consumer power production have
the potential to outweigh the costs of implication, making it
beneficial to switch to this method for consumer power
needs.
As we prepare research and ultimately an academic
article on this topic, we are consulting research currently
being done on the topic in the academia world at
universities like Massachusetts Institute of Technology and
in the corporate world by corporations like Bloom Energy
and GE. In addition to this, we are using professional
online articles on the topic found through engineering
databases to put forth a detailed academic article that
encompasses how this process works and its potential
benefits to society.
REFERENCES
[1] (2015) “Solid Oxide Fuel Cells.” Bloom Energy. (Internet
Webpage).
http://www.bloomenergy.com/fuel-cell/solidoxide/
[2] T. Kellner. (2014, July 22) “The New Power Generation:
This Fuel Cell Startup Could Spark a Revolution.” GE
Reports.
(Internet
Webpage).
http://www.gereports.com/post/92454271755/the-newpower-generation-this-fuel-cell-startup/
ANNOTATED BIBLIOGRAPHY
T. A. Adams II, P. I. Barton. (2010, April). “High-efficiency
power production from natural gas with carbon capture.”
Journal of Power Sources. (online article). DOI:
10.1016/j.jpowsour.2009.10.046
This article from a journal specializing in Power Sources
highlights the process of using solid-oxide fuel cells
powered by natural gas. The article goes into deep technical
Luke Barone
Zane Kharitonov
Nicholas Roth
detail about the science behind the process, explaining what
solid-oxide fuel cells are and how they work. This article is
going to be a valuable source for describing in the
technology in detail.
article, the author analyzes the process by which solid-oxide
fuel cells provide energy. Additionally, he explains how
General Electric is discovering breakthroughs with this
energy source. These factors will be useful in our paper by
providing an example of how the fuel cells work and to
show how they are being innovated in the industry.
(2010, March) “Can natural gas--SOFC combo be cheapest
route to cleaner electricity?” American Ceramic Society
Bulletin. (Internet Periodical).
http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=
e96674ac-8694-4150-8f5d7ea44ef2ce46%40sessionmgr110&vid=30&hid=115
This source is a periodical published by the American
Ceramic Society Bulletin. The author discusses how two
researchers at MIT argue that solar oxide fuel cells paired
with natural gas is the most cost effective and clean solution
for future energy. In our paper, this article will be utilized to
show how some of the world's most credible researchers
have been pursuing solid-oxide fuel cell research, which in
turn shows its potential.
V. Meshcheryakov, V. Kirillov, V. Sobyanin. (2006,
January). “Thermodynamic analysis of a solid oxide fuel cell
power system with external natural gas reforming.”
Theoretical Foundations of Chemical Engineering. (online
article). DOI: 10.1134/S0040579506010088
This article from the Russian Academy of Sciences
provides a more technical explanation on how solid-oxide
fuel cells work. The authors, all experts in the field of
thermodynamics, use their knowledge to explain chemically
the process of how solid-oxide fuel cells work. This article
will help guide us by providing detail on the mathematical
and chemical processes that solid-oxide-fuel cells go through
while generating electrical energy.
D. Chandler (2009, December 3) “A greener way to get
electricity from natural gas.” MIT News. (Internet Webpage).
http://news.mit.edu/2009/natural-gas
This article from Massachusetts Institute of
Technology’s online webpage about ongoing research at the
university highlights the possibility of implementing solidoxide fuel cells as an alternative method for providing
consumer power. The article highlights the efficiency and
cleanliness that was observer in their small scale testing. It
also goes into a cost-benefit analysis of the technology.
Information from this article will be useful when evaluating
the viability of implementing this technology on a large
scale.
C. Ni, Z. Yuan, S. Wang, et al. (2015, December). “Study on
an integrated natural gas fuel processor for 2-kW solid-oxide
fuel cell.” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.
(online article). DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2015.09.067
This article from a journal on Hydrogen energy focuses
on a small scale 2-kW solid-oxide fuel cell that has been
created. This article has operating information on this small
scale fuel cell that includes testing to find the most efficient
setup. We will be able to take this collated data from the
small scale operation and be able to relate it to a sizable
operation that would be useful for the consumer power
industry.
P. IIora, M.A.A. Tasher, P. Chiesa, et al. (2010, November).
“A novel system for the production of pure hydrogen from
natural gas based on solid oxide fuel cell–solid oxide
electrolyzer.” International Journal of Hydrogen Energy.
(online article). DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2010.07.078
This article from a journal on hydrogen energy explain
how the fuel for solid-oxide fuel cells, pure hydrogen, is
derived from natural gases. With this method, the fossil fuels
are not being burned but rater being used in a much cleaner
way than the current processes of combustion. The
conversion of natural gas into hydrogen is the first step in
the process of recovering electrical energy from solid-oxide
fuel cells. This article will be used provide the detail on the
important conversion step in the process.
A. Rismanchian, J. Mirzababaei, S. Chuang. (2015, May).
“Electroless plated Cu–Ni anode catalyst for natural gas
solid oxide fuel cells.” Catalysis Today. (online article).
DOI: 10.1016/j.cattod.2014.05.012
This article from a professional journal specializing in
catalytic reactions highlights the testing of a specific anode
used in solid-oxide fuel cells. The article details the
efficiency of using an anode plated in copper and nickel. If
viable, a plated anode would be more cost effective than
traditional anodes made from precious meatal like platinum.
This article will be useful in comparing the effectiveness of
different anodes to help determine which material will be
most efficient to use, economically and scientifically.
T. Kellner. (2014, July 22) “The New Power Generation:
This Fuel Cell Startup Could Spark a Revolution.” GE
Reports. (Internet Webpage).
http://www.gereports.com/post/92454271755/the-newpower-generation-this-fuel-cell-startup/
This source is an online article published by GE Reports,
an online news site affiliated with General Electric. In this
(2015) “Solid Oxide Fuel Cells.” Bloom Energy. (Internet
Webpage).
http://www.bloomenergy.com/fuel-cell/solidoxide/
This webpage is from a company that is currently
producing solid-oxide fuel cells and have made engineering
breakthroughs that have developed solid-oxide fuel cells into
much cleaner solution to the energy crisis. This webpage
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Luke Barone
Zane Kharitonov
Nicholas Roth
describes some of the hardships that were experienced while
developing consumer solid-oxide fuel cells and also tells the
process of how they operate. This webpage will greatly
benefit us in our research to understanding how solid-oxide
fuel cells can be implemented into real world applications.
J. Thijssen. (2009, March 9). “Natural Gas-Fueled
Distributed Generation Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Systems.” US
Department of Energy. (online
article).https://www.netl.doe.gov/File%20Library/research/c
oal/energy%20systems/fuel%20cells/Natural-Gas-DG-FCpaper-update-090330a.pdf
This source is an informational article produced by J.
Thijissen LLC. The main focus of the article is outlining
both the cost and performance analysis of solid-oxide fuel
cell systems powered by natural gas. However, this article
also provides environmental and technical overviews. This
article will be incredibly useful in our paper by providing
information regarding the cost, efficiency, and
environmental impact of the innovation.
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