Danbury-based FuelCell Energy was awarded $3.5 million Thursday from the federal government to develop a fuel cell that would directly convert methane to methanol and other liquid fuels.
An asterisk demands the reactions be neither too hot nor too cold, which is the current state of affairs.
Cheryl Martin, acting director of the federal ARPA-E (Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy), announced $33 million in funding for 13 new projects, of which FuelCell Energy is one, aimed at developing new fuel cell technologies for low-cost distributed power generation.
FuelCell Energy will work to develop an “intermediate-temperature fuel cell” that will directly convert methane to methanol and other liquid fuels using new metal catalysts, the company reported, saying, “The catalysts will be optimized to improve the yield and selectivity of the methane-to-methanol reaction.”
In addition, a new technique will be employed to manufacture the fuel cell in a continuous process.
The combination of new metal catalysts and advanced manufacturing will reduce overall system-level costs, according to a statement from FuelCell Energy.
The projects are funded through ARPA-E”™s new Reliable Electricity Based on ELectrochemical Systems program. Their stated goal is to improve “grid stability, balancing intermittent renewable technologies and reducing CO2 emissions using electrochemical distributed power generation systems.”
Distributed generation systems offer an alternative to large, centralized power facilities that are currently commonplace. While centralized power generation systems have an economy of scale, they often require long transmission, leading to losses through resistance.
Current fuel cell research generally focuses on technologies that either operate at high temperatures for grid-scale applications or at low temperatures for vehicle technologies. ARPA-E”™s new electrochemical systems projects focus on low-cost intermediate-temperature fuel cells. One challenge being addressed would see the same ceramic unit produce and store its own power.
ARPA-E is an agency within the U.S. Department of Energy.
