Based on the Japanese corporation’s solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology, the 400kW electrolysis module is slated to operate at high pressures, which MHI said sets it apart from competing systems.
Comprised of 500 cell stacks, the SOEC system recorded electrolytic efficiency of 3.5kWh/Nm3 – representing a 101% higher heating value (HHV), according to MHI.
While the concept of a 101% HHV seems counterintuitive, in the context of electrolysers, especially SOEC, it is possible. By exceeding 100% HHV, the energy contained in the hydrogen gas produced by the system exceeds the electrical energy used to generate it.
It does not imply the creation of energy out of nothing, but an effective use of both electrical input and additional thermal inputs. As a high-temperature process, SOEC offers inherent efficiency gains over other electrolysis methods by reducing the electrical energy required.
MHI said the results came as a “major step forward” in achieving its goal of building a system with an overall efficiency of 90% HHV.
The SOEC installation adds to an alkaline electrolyser from Norway’s HydrogenPro, put into operation in September at the Takasago Hydrogen Park in September 2023.
Read more: HydrogenPro electrolysers start producing hydrogen at Mitsubishi Powe test location
With a hydrogen storage capacity of 39,000Nm3 the Takasago location in November 2023 used hydrogen produced and stored at the park in a demonstration operation of a 30% hydrogen co-firing of a gas turbine. MHI plans to conduct a 100% hydrogen demonstration in 2024.
Solid oxide electrolyser tech could ‘dominate the industrial market’: Ceres Power CCO
Solid oxide electrolysis and fuel cell (SOEC and SOFC) technology could “dominate” industrial industries, such as ammonia production and aviation fuels, an exlcusive H2 View webinar has been told.
Tony Cochrane, CCO at Ceres Power, told viewers of H2 View’s In Conversation with Ceres webinar they should expect to see Ceres’ technology deployed within various industrial applications.
“Our technology is uniquely suited to those applications,” explained Cochrane. He claimed Ceres’ solid oxide systems have higher efficiencies when compared with PEM and alkaline technology.
Despite coming as an alternative route to PEM and alkaline technologies, solid oxide though a high-temperature process offers hydrogen production and conversion at superior efficiency.
“[We] offer a much lower cost of operating, because Ceres converts electrons and water to hydrogen at 20—25% higher efficiency,” he said…
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