ECO2Fuel Achieves Major Milestone with Scaled-Up 50kW Stack Design
After a rigorous two-and-a-half-year development process, the ECO2Fuel team has successfully reached a significant milestone.
In a recent review meeting including a site visit at VITO in Belgium, the team showcased – in the presence of the European Commission project officer – their groundbreaking achievements on: The successful assembly of the 50kW stack on the ECO2Fuel electrolyser testing site and on cell components including electrocatalysts, membranes and bipolar plates.
A unique 50kW large-stack design
One of the most ambitious goals of the ECO2Fuel project has been realised: the development and implementation of a 50 kW stack within the ECO2Fuel electrolyser system. This stack is the core of the ECO2FUEL electrolysis process where CO2 is converted to e- fuels with the use of sustainable electricity. The electrolyser system is able to work at elevated pressures, has a continuous gas monitoring system and ability to recycle the cathodic gas mixture in order to increase the conversion of CO2.
Scaling up the system is a key objective of the project, with the aim of testing it at 1MW scale on the RWE site in Germany by 2026. This requirement necessitated a cell design of 1500 cm² exceeding most currently used, pressurised CO2 electrolysis stacks. The size equals the current state-of-the-art in PEM (proton exchange membrane) water electrolysis. The reason for choosing this size of the stack was mainly the possibility to easily scale this stack further to 1MW. Already now several challenges were encountered and dealt with, such as sealing of the stack at higher pressures, gas- and liquid flow management, structural integrity of the stack components, etc.
Currently, the team is conducting extensive testing to ensure the system’s efficiency, focusing on the electricity conductivity of the membranes, the chemical conversion process, and overall system stabilization.
CO2 electrolyser stack characteristics:
- Rectangular shaped electrodes
- Innovative way to decouple cathodic reaction from oxygen evolution reaction (OER) on the anode
- Suitable for gas/liquid process
- Possibility to use very thin active components such as electrodes and membranes
Fit for pressures up to 45barg
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