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DEMONSTRATION OF FUEL CELLS TO RECOVER ENERGY FROM LANDFILL GAS - PHASE III. DEMONSTRATION TESTS - PHASE IV. GUIDELINES AND DEMONSTRATIONS - VOLUME 2. APPENDICES
Citation:
Trocciola, J. AND J. Preston. DEMONSTRATION OF FUEL CELLS TO RECOVER ENERGY FROM LANDFILL GAS - PHASE III. DEMONSTRATION TESTS - PHASE IV. GUIDELINES AND DEMONSTRATIONS - VOLUME 2. APPENDICES. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/R-98/002b (NTIS PB98-127376), 1998.
Impact/Purpose:
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Description:
The report summarizes the results of a four-phase program to demonstrate that fuel cell energy recovery using a commercial phosphoric acid fuel cell is both environmentally sound and commercially feasible. Phase I, a conceptual design and evaluation study, addressed the technical and economic issues associated with operating the fuel cell energy recovery system on landfill gas. Phase II included the design, construction, and testing of a landfill gas pretreatment unit (GPU) to remove critical fuel poisons such as sulfur and halides from the landfill gas, and the design of fuel cell modifications to permit operating on low heating value (LHV) landfill gas. Phase III was the demonstration test of the complete fuel cell energy recovery system. Phase IV described how the commercial fuel cell power plant could be further modified to achieve full rated power on LHV landfill gas. The demonstration test successfully demonstrated operation of the energy recovery system, including the GPU and the commercial phosphoric acid fuel cell modified for operation on landfill gas. Demonstration output included operation up to 137 kW; 37.1% efficiency at 120 kW; exceptionally low secondary emissions (dry gas, 15% O2) of 0.77 ppmV carbon monoxide, 0.12 ppmV nitrogen oxides, and undetectable sulfur dioxide; no forced outages with adjusted availability of 98.5%; and 709 hours operation on landfill gas.