Our company has joined forces with the largest landfill gas power producer, Neo Bio Energy, to explore the potential of powering SOFC DFC fuel cells with high-methane biogas. The fuel cells provide a highly efficient, low-carbon alternative to landfill gas engines generating electricity from landfill gas at Neo Bio Energy's current facilities.
Neo Bio Energy is the largest entity in Poland managing biogas generated from landfill sites. It currently manages 30 installations in the country that generate electricity from the renewable energy source that is the landfill gas.
At the biogas power plant located at the landfill site in Jastrzębie-Zdrój, we have built a field laboratory to test the operating parameters obtained when using landfill gas as fuel for the cells. The SOFC DFC cell module manufactured at HydrogenTech was tested, and the tests themselves were conducted using our MHT100 station modified for integration into the biogas plant.
With an operating temperature of 600-800 degrees Celsius and the catalytic activity of the nickel present in the anode, the DFC SOFC cells can convert landfill gas into electricity through the reforming reaction of the methane present in the landfill gas that takes place on the cell. Due to the unique design of the DFC cells, it is possible to carry out the reforming inside the cells, eliminating the need for an external reformer in the system.
Tests carried out in collaboration with Neo Bio Energy were successful and showed that the gas currently being burned in gas engines could successfully power the fuel cells without increasing the gas purification step. The promising results confirmed the potential of the cells as a low-carbon alternative to gas engines without sacrificing efficiency, opening the field for further development and optimisation of the technology towards this application.
