Book Description
A review of the current phosphoric acid fuel cell system technology development efforts is presented both for multimegawatt systems for electric utility applications and for multikilowatt systems for on-site integrated energy system applications. Improving fuel cell performance, reducing cost, and increasing durability are the technology drivers at this time. The longstanding barrier to the attainment of the latter two goals, which manifests itself in several ways, has been materials. The differences in approach among the three systems contractors (United Technologies Corporation, Westinghouse Electric Corporation/Energy Research Corporation, and Engelhard Industries) and their unique technological features, including elecrodes, matrices, intercell cooling, bipolar/separator plates, electrolyte management, and fuel selection are discussed.