MOSCOW, December 15. The project of a power plant based on proton-ceramic fuel cells was presented by Vyatka State University scientists as part of a Russian scientific group. As the university press service reported, the selected materials and fuel for generating current in the device will ensure high efficiency, economy and reliability of the entire device.
Electric energy is considered as the fuel of the future, said specialists from Vyatka State University (VyatSU). In addition to the widespread use of devices powered by electrical energy in everyday life, the process of electrification of road transport is successfully developing, projects aimed at electrifying sea and air transport are being implemented, and electric heating systems are also widely used.
Electrochemical devices for generating electrical energy – fuel cells – have been widely used for several decades, the university noted.
A fuel cell is a device that directly converts chemical energy contained in fuel into electrical energy. Due to this, the efficiency of the fuel cell is twice as high as, for example, that of an internal combustion engine. Such devices cause much less damage to the environment, experts explained.
They noted that the fuel for most fuel cells is hydrogen, which is quite expensive and dangerous to store and transport. The use of hydrogen as an energy carrier is associated with solving safety problems and the lack of a developed infrastructure for obtaining, storing and delivering hydrogen to consumers. Therefore, the development of a generator based on other substances is actively being carried out by many scientists around the world.
Scientists from Vyatka State University and the Federal Research Center “Institute of Catalysis named after G.K. Boreskov of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences” presented a project for a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC), which has analogues in mass production does not exist in the world. Researchers have proposed using ammonia as a fuel.
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“We are developing fuel cells that run on ammonia, which is used in many chemical industries, such as mineral fertilizers. Technologies for storing and transporting ammonia have been well developed for a long time. The use of liquid fuels with high energy density, such as ammonia, can eliminate the need for expensive hydrogen infrastructure,” explained Anton Kuzmin, head of the Department of Technology of Inorganic Substances and Electrochemical Production at Vyatka State University.
He emphasized that the power plant being created is based on proton-ceramic fuel cells. According to scientific publications, there is great interest in such devices in the world, but the production of such SOFCs in the world is not yet carried out on a large scale.
“Quite a lot of research is devoted specifically to devices operating on ammonia; this is a trend of the last decade. It is not yet possible to assess the real level of implementation and characteristics of devices. This situation gives us a chance to be among the leading developers of such devices,” explained Kuzmin.
According to preliminary estimates, the device being developed by Russian scientists will have a number of advantages over existing SOFCs.
“The operating temperature in our fuel cell will be about 600°C compared to the traditional concept (SOFC), where temperatures from 700°C and above, which will allow the use of cheaper construction materials and extend the service life. It will also allow fuel to be supplied directly to the fuel cell, i.e. there is no need to create a separate unit where ammonia will decompose into hydrogen and nitrogen,” said Kuzmin.
He noted that the immediate plans of the research team include the production and testing of single fuel cells, confirmation of functional characteristics and testing of its survivability, and only then – the creation of a full-scale prototype of the power plant.
Research is being carried out within the framework of the strategic project of Vyatka State University “Habitat”, which is included in the program of state support for universities of the Russian Federation “Priority-2030”.
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