Demonstration Systems
To continue to provide the best value for money PEM fuel cell stacks available, Nedstack believes in a relentless focus on PEM fuel cell stacks alone. Our customers are system integrators who build applications around our stacks. We have no exclusive liaisons with any one system integrator and we do not compete with our customers in their market.
To better understand our customers and our product, however, we have always valued building application examples with our fuel cells. With a variety of partners, we developed demonstrations over a range of applications. These are not just for show: many of them are actually operational under the conditions they were designed for. This means that we have built up an unprecedented amount of knowledge about fuel cell systems and the integration of our fuel cell stacks therein. Years of experience in building demo applications allow us to provide our customers with valuable support to accelerate their entry into the market.
Find out more about our extensive series of demonstration systems :
PEM Fuel Cell power with hydrogen from industrial chlorine production unitsSome industrial processes produce hydrogen as byproduct. These are energy-intensive industries: chlorine and caustic soda production, and sodium chlorate factories. PEM fuel cells can be used to transform the released hydrogen into electricity. PEM Power Plants cut the electricity bill for these large production facilities by up to 20 percent. Nedstack: world class in PEM Power PlantsNedstack’s origins lie with PEM Power Plants. With PEM Power Plants, the fuel cell stacks are the system, so we deliver turnkey to your plant. Since early 2007, Nedstack has built extensive operating experience with power plants. At a Chlorine plant in the Netherlands, Nedstack operates a unique testing facility on hydrogen.
The Delfzijl pilot is composed of a PEM fuel cell module with 12 stacks of 75 cells each, the stacks are electrically connected in series. Power output was initially set at 50 kW to operate at high (57%) hydrogen conversion efficiency, recently levels were raised to about 70 kW (at 53% efficiency). Peak output power is 120 kW. By November 2010 the fuel cell unit has delivered 900 MWh of electric power after 18,000 hours of operation on the local grid. Experiments will continue through 2011. As shown on the picture, the entire installation is fitted inside a standard 20 ft sea container.
This set-up enables Nedstack to test its stacks under industrial conditions for thousands of hours. New components and concepts have to pass long term tests in this facility before they are incorporated in our stacks that are sold to customers. The current generation of stacks installed in the Dutch chlor-alkali plant has been in operation for 8,000 hours. Voltage degradation levels indicate an economic stack life of over 16,000 hours. When the system is cleverly designed, a straightforward swap of stacks prepares it for yet another long system life span. Nedstack anticipates in the course of 2012 an improvement to a fuel cell lifespan of 20,000 hours. Location of the pilot PEM fuel cell unit at the AkzoNobel Delfzijl plant
1 MW plant at Solvay, BelgiumBased on our results with AkzoNobel, chemical giant Solvay has chosen Nedstack for a 1 MW PEM fuel cell generator for their Solvic chlor-alkali plant in Lillo, near Antwerp (Belgium). This 1 MW unit consists of a number of modules switched in parallel, enabling uninterrupted operation. Not only does it convert hydrogen into electricity, the water produced by the conversion of hydrogen is recuperated and used in the production process. In the spring of 2011, only a year after Solvay and Nedstack signed their partnership, this unit will become operational. The benefits of hydrogen recoveryThe industrial chemicals chlorine and caustic soda are produced by passing an electric current through a concentrated solution of salt in water. This process is accompanied by the release of hydrogen. The byproduct hydrogen can be converted to electrical power with PEM fuel cells. If all the hydrogen is converted to electricity, the electricity consumption of the electrolysis plant from the grid is reduced by 20%. Worldwide 50 million tons of chlorine is produced annually. Conversion of all byproduct hydrogen with fuel cells, for the global chlorine production, would yield 3000 MW of continuous power, equivalent to the electricity consumption of 6 million households. Another industry bound to benefit from hydrogen energy production is the sodium chlorate production. Sodium chlorate is used for the bleaching of pulpwood for paper production. To limit transportation costs, these electrolysis factories are usually located close to saw mills - in remote areas. At these remote locations the by-product hydrogen is often vented as there is no use for it locally. As PEM Power Plants don’t need refueling, operate under a wide range of climate conditions, and require little maintenance, they are excellently suited to help cut the electricity bills and environmental footprint of sodium chlorate production. Hydrogen produced this sector could generate 300 MW of electricity with fuel cells, again assuming 50% conversion efficiency. Nowadays about 15% of the produced hydrogen is vented to the atmosphere. Fuel cells operating on the vented hydrogen could generate 450 MW of CO2-free power. This is based on a system conversion efficiency of 50%, compared to a fuel efficiency of only 35% for the best combustion engines operating at their optimal production point. The advantages to bring fuel cells to sources of hydrogen such as the chlor-alkali- and chlorate industries are:
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Everyday many travellers use public bus services to reach their intended point of arrival. Most buses use polluting and noisy diesel engines. Emission regulations are being tightened, and people are looking for options that are clean and quiet. The HyMove bus is one of the clean alternatives being implemented.
HAN University is one of the top rated universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands. It used battery operated vehicles to transport people on their campus. They wanted to convert a small battery electric vehicle (BEV) to a fuel cell vehicle (FCEV). As early as Q2 2006, Nedstack delivered a system with a 2.5 kW stack.
10 kWe grid connected system fed by natural gas
