Abstract
Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert the chemical energy of a fuel directly into electricity and heat more efficiently than other combustion based processes because they have no moving parts. Most fuel cells can only tolerate hydrogen fuel and require an additional external process such as steam reforming to produce it. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) can be directly fueled with hydrocarbons such as methane, propane, and even petroleum liquids without additional processing.
SOFCs are one of the most promising new distributed generation technologies that have resulted from fuel cell research funded by the Department of Energy and will be the first process to reach commercialization. FuelCell Energy (partially owned by Caterpillar) and SiemensWestinghouse now have or will have facilities capable of producing commercial SOFCs by 2003. Electrical output of production units from both companies range from 100 to 300 kilowatt (kW) and units ranging from 1kW to 1 megawatt (MW) are under development. SOFC emissions are about one fiftieth of a gas turbine generator and they produce about 60 dB of noise at 1 meter. The price per kilowatt hour of SOFCs is expected to be $400 by the end of the decade.