An unlikely collaboration has formed between Norway’s Nordic Power Systems and California’s SAFCell Inc as the two companies test a cool flame fuel reformer and a solid-acid fuel cell.
The idea is that they will form the core components in a new electric auxiliary power unit that can run on both biodiesel and regular diesel.
Under existing trials, a 250W solid-acid fuel cell stack ran on both pure hydrogen and hydrogen produced from diesel by the unit’s reformer, with an insignificant different in performance. According to SAFCell, this shows that the fuel cell could operate up to 10 per cent CO without affecting performance.
Now an electric generator is being developed that would commercialise the solid-acid fuel cell technology with the project funded by the Research Council of Norway with an overall budget of US$2million.
In addition, the companies are looking at a cool flame reformer that optimises the mix of fuel and oxidant before contact with the catalysts and helps prevent auto-ignition.
Nordic Power Systems acquired the licensing rights to the cool flame reformer technology in the late 1990s. It converts hydrocarbons into hydrogen, CO2 and heat; and due to the unit’s high efficiency CO2 emissions are much lower than in a conventional combustion system.
