The NELLHI project

NELLHI

http://www.nellhi.eu

The NELLHI project combines European know-how in single cells, coatings, sealing, and stack design to produce a novel 1 kW SOFC stack of unprecedented performance, together with the proof of concept of a 10 kWe SOFC stack. The target application of the development is stationary and residential combined heat and power production based on natural gas.

NELLHI is supported by the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking.

Expected IMPACT

It is estimated that up to 700,000 manufacturing jobs could be created in the global fuel cell industry over the next decade. USA, Japan, and Canada have competitive stationary fuel cells industries with newly emerging businesses. These and other regions such as Korea, China, and India are investing forcefully in the technology.

Europe cannot and need not lag behind, since the technical capacity is there, as well as a cutting-edge knowledge base. NELLHI proposes to put these together and turn into a world-class product, leveraging on:

• Improved electrical efficiency

Elcogen cells have already demonstrated a very high performance. NELLHI is built around these core components, so that the stack design may bring out this high performance undiminished at system level. The stack developed in this project will have smaller pressure losses and enable use of higher fuel utilization rates, which could lead to 60% system electrical efficiency at 10 kW scale.

• Improved robustness, including better lifetime

The stack concept will work at low operating temperature (650 ºC), compared to state of the art: 700-800 ºC. Combination of low operating temperature, thin and adhesive coatings and hybrid gaskets will lead to a stack with good robustness to long-term, cycling and transient operating conditions. Low operating temperature decreases temperature related degradation mechanisms (sintering and coarsening, diffusion, oxidation, etc.) and will increase stack life-time.

• Considerable cost reductions and mass production pathways

All the manufacturing methods, materials and designs are optimized for mass-production. Upscaling the cell footprint lowers scrap rate and saves on material expenditure. The interconnect plates will be manufactured of pre-coated steel and pressed and shaped by continuous hydroforming  designed for a coil-to-coil, high-yield process. The gaskets are developed to compensate thickness variations, allowing higher tolerances, which will lead to lower stack costs.

Ultimately, the profitable customer price of the stack will be less than 1000 €/kWe, significantly lower than any stack producer can provide at the moment and undercutting the target system price set by the European Commission for 2020 (4000 €/kWe).

•  A complete supply chain leading to a commercial product

Every component that makes up the final, validated, high-performance stack will be produced by a dedicated European industrial manufacturer especially for this design, optimising the fabrication process envisaging mass production within the next five years. Elcogen will act as the overall supervisor of each component’s development process in this respect, and will be the driver of the supply chain.
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Clean energy project develops breakthrough fuel cell technology

By Joanna Sampson31 August 2017  

https://www.gasworld.com/clean-energy-project-develops-breakthrough-fuel-cell-technology-/2013383.article

The EU-funded three-year NELLHI project has concluded after successfully developing a new stack design of solid oxide fuel cells, from an all-European supply chain.

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) are considered the leading fuel cell technology, producing the highest efficiencies of any electrical generation, above combustion engines, gas turbines or other fuel cells.

Key applications for SOFC systems include residential combined heat and power systems (CHP), automotive vehicles and electrolysis. In an SOFC electrolysis system, fuel cells convert excess power from renewable generation to turn water into hydrogen, addressing intermittency and storage issues for wind and solar.

Key challenges such as high costs, production at scale and capital investment have hampered widespread deployment of SOFCs.

Participants of the NELLHI project report that their results address two of these concerns, in achieving the project’s main objectives, which were:

Developing high-performance SOFC stacks at low cost

Results showed more than 70% stack gross efficiency and excellent resilience towards load cycles. The project found its stacks were ‘ready for integration in any clean power-generating system and implementation in the energy market.’ Stacks were designed and assembled with optimised interconnections and seals.

Optimising high-performance cells with low temperatures

Stack performance depends on the electrochemical properties of its cells. European fuel cell manufacturer Elcogen developed an optimal microstructure using particular materials to decrease operational temperatures to 650 ˚C – compared to conventional temps of 750-800°C. Cell dimensions were also increased and Elcogen developed a highly reproducible route to increase mass production rates.

Newly patented game-changing seals

The NELLHI project developed and tested a new material formula for cell fuel cell seals. These gaskets are resistant to high temperatures and extreme atmospheres. The design was patented during the project and is now commercially available from UK company Flexitallic.

Enn Õunpuu, CEO of SOFC manufacturer, Elcogen, said, “We’re particularly excited by the potential applications for these stacks, including residential combined heat and power systems, which could replace hundreds of thousands of inefficient gas boilers across Europe. Solid oxide fuel cell stacks could also be a game-changer for renewables, with excess power from wind and solar being used to convert water into hydrogen, solving urgent issues around intermittency and storage.” 

Participants in the NELLHI project included Estonian fuel cell manufacturer Elcogen, Italian new technologies and energy agency ENEA, Finnish technical research centre VTT, UK engineered seal company Flexitallic, Belgian fuel cell component company Borit, Swedish engineering company Sandvik, and German institute for environmental technology CUTEC.

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https://declara.com/content/J1JzvXx1

Completion of the new three-year, EU-funded, all-European high-performance stack: design for mass production

Schematic overview of main task distribution in the project. Source: NELLHI

(NELLHI) project has resulted in a new solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) stack design. Single cell, coatings, sealing and stack design technologies developed in Europe were tapped to produce a novel high-performance 1 kW SOFC stack.

Key applications for SOFC systems include residential combined heat and power systems, automotive vehicles and electrolysis. These fuel cells convert excess power from renewable generation to turn water into hydrogen, addressing intermittency and storage issues for wind and solar.

Project participants include Elcogen AS (cells), AB Sandvik Materials Technology (interconnector plate material and coating), Borit (interconnector plate manufacturing), Flexitallic Ltd (sealing) and Elcogen Oy (stack design, stack assembly and production).

The partners successfully developed high-performance SOFC stacks at low cost and demonstrated over 70 percent stack gross efficiency and excellent resilience toward load cycles.

The researchers also optimized high-performance cells with low temperatures. Fuel cell manufacturer Elcogen developed an optimal microstructure to reduce operational temperatures to 650˚C, well below conventional temperatures of 750° C-800° C. Cell dimensions were also increased and the company developed a highly reproducible route to increase mass production rates.

The NELLHI project developed and tested a new material formula for cell fuel cell seals. These gaskets are resistant to high temperatures and extreme atmospheres. The design was patented during the project and is now commercially available from UK company Flexitallic.

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http://www.nellhi.eu/partners/enea

Navigation

·         ENEA

·         Elcogen AS

·         Elcogen Oy

·         VTT

·         Flexitallic Ltd.

·         Borit NV

·         AB Sandvik

·         CUTEC

ENEA

ENEA is a scientific RTD organisation with a commitment to sustainable development and environmental safeguard. Its main fields of competence include engineering, materials science, chemistry, physics, geology, mathematics, agriculture, oceanography, information science and technology, meteorology, biology. ENEA is mainly called upon to: promote and carry out basic and applied research and technology innovation, also through prototypes and product industrialization; disseminate and transfer technologies, encouraging their use in productive and social sectors; provide high-tech services, studies, tests and evaluations to both public and private bodies and enterprises develop and apply sustainability assessment methods of the innovative technologies. In these fields many programs/projects on advanced materials, electrochemistry, fuel cells and hydrogen technologies, as well as on bio-energy and bio-fuels production and utilisation, have been and are carried out, also in co-operation with national and international industry, academic institutions and research organisations.

Role in project

For this project, ENEA will contribute with the core competences of the Laboratories of Hydrogen and Fuel Cells and of Material Technology , with expertise respectively on in-depth characterization of high-temperature fuel cells (MCFC and SOFC) from electrodes to systems and on innovative processes of synthesis and treatment of new ceramic and metallic materials in stable and  etastable forms. More than 25 years of experience in the electrochemistry of MCFC and SOFC are at the basis of participation in NELLHI, with facilities to study the performance of button cells, single cells and repeating units and short stacks (conductivity measurements, polarization, EIS and cyclic voltammetry), looking also at pre- and post-characterization of the test materials (chemical and morphological analysis). The laboratory for Material Technology has joined in collaboration with the Laboratory for Hydrogen and Fuel Cells to take on the material challenges facing especially high-temperature fuel cells. Years of experience have been matured on corrosion prevention and protection of steel components in MCFC stacks resulting in numerous publications and patent applications. Competence has been developed on Xray Diffraction (in controlled atmosphere and temperature, also with simultaneous 120° XRD apparatus) and Rietveld analysis of samples. In particular in the last decade focus has been on materials for energy applications both in micro- and nano-structured configurations. Through recent acquisition of a microfluidizing apparatus, activities have been focused towards the development of nanofluids and suspensions for coating processes. ENEA is actively involved in National and EU Platforms for implementation of fuel cells and hydrogen, and outside Europe in IPHE and IEA Implementing Agreements, including Bioenergy, Advanced Fuels Cells and Electric/Hybrid Vehicles. ENEA participates in several topical EU-funded projects, among which H2FC-Infrastructures, SCoReD 2.0, MCFC-CONTEX, COMETHY.