Industrial fuel cell power company AFC Energy and Industrial Chemicals Ltd have been awarded a European Union grant of up to Euros 6 million (£4.9 million) for the installation of the world’s largest alkaline fuel cell energy generation system at ICL’s chlor-alkaline chemical plant in Essex, UK.
The award is being funded by the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking (FCH-JU), through the EU’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7). It will provide AFC Energy, ICL and their European partners with more than four years’ financial support for the project, which was first announced on 25 June 2012. The grant is subject to final negotiation and, subject to agreement, is expected to be in place to enable the project to commence during Spring 2013. AFC Energy will co-ordinate the project and expects its direct share of the project funding to be up to Euros 3 million (£2.45 million) with the balance to be received by the other project partners.
AFC Energy’s low cost alkaline fuel cell system will be installed in stages at the ICL owned and operated chemical facility and is eventually expected to generate approximately 1MWe. The chlor-alkali plant will manufacture chlorine and caustic soda (NaOH) that have a range of uses including those in household cleaning products, detergents and water treatment. Hydrogen produced as a waste by-product in the process will be used to generate power using AFC Energy’s fuel cell system. The project is part of ICL’s integrated energy generation plan and is the largest fuel cell system announced for installation in the UK to date and is believed to be the largest alkaline fuel cell system announced anywhere in the world. Without this fuel cell system, waste hydrogen would typically be discharged into the atmosphere. Instead, ICL will be able to reduce dependence on the national grid for its energy needs by creating economic value from its hydrogen.
AFC intends to supply fuel cell systems to ICL in stages during the grant funded project. The longer term intent is for AFC to provide electrical power to ICL under an ESCO (Energy Supply Company) model whereby ICL will provide its hydrogen and purchase power under long-term contracts. AFC will own, operate and maintain the fuel cell systems.
The project also includes work on automating the assembly of electrode stacks and the recovery and reuse of catalyst materials. Funding is also provided to publicise the project.
Commenting on the agreement Ian Williamson, Chief Executive Officer, said: "Globally around 1.4 million metric tonnes of hydrogen is produced by the chlor-alkali industry alone of which 15% is vented or flared ... our technology could readily help the environment as well as create economic value."
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