Technical Status Of Micro-cogeneration Units With Hydrogen Fuel Cells

摘要

Development trends of the energy sector nowadays are more and more under the strong influence of three kinds of problems: security of energy supply, unpredictability of energy market and influence of production and consumption of energy on the environment. In such conditions decentralized production of usable form of energy using primary renewable and unrenewable energy sources appears as one of the most important directions in the future. Regarding that in developed countries around 40 % of energy is used in households, 30 % in transport and 30 % in production, micro-cogeneration unit for households become more important. Micro-cogeneration unit is in fact made up of an assembly for production of usable form of heat (for example warm water or warm air) and an assembly for production of electric energy. Here, electric energy can be produced in different ways, for example by using a micro turbine generator, Stirling's engine generators, fuel cell systems etc. In this work there are two directions of the development of micro-cogeneration units shown, which comply with the definition of micro-CHP unit according to European cogeneration directive 2004/8/ES (electric power <50 kW).%ma primarnoj energiji, odnosno emisiji CO_2: prvi smjer koristi prirodni plin i u radu emitira CO_2, a drugi smjer koristi solarnu energiju i u radu ne emitira CO_2. Unutar prvog smjera razmatrani su samo sustavi s gorivnim člancima kao generatorima električne energije. Prema tipu gorivnog članka razmatrani su PEMFC (polimer electrolvte membrane fuel cell) i SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) sustavi. Unutar drugog smjera razmatrani su so-larni fotonaponski sustavi s kogeneracijom topline (solar photo-voltaic/thermal svstems, PV/T) koji imaju mogućnost korištenja podsustava elektrolizator/spremnik vodika/gorivni članak za skladištenje energije. Prikazanje i jedan novi koncept mikrokogeneracijskog uređaja koji osim topline i električne energije za korištenje u kućanstvima pokriva i energiju za pogon osobnog automobila, dakle osobnog transporta pa bi ga trebalo nazvati »micro-CHPT unit«. Dan je pregled učinkovitosti uređaja vodećih kompanija po promatranim smjerovima. Zaključuje se da u prelaznom periodu, kada su cijene ugljikovodičnih goriva još relativno niske, učinkovitost solarnih ćelija mala, a nepoštovanje ograničenja na emisiju CO_2 nije dovoljno sankcionirano, dominira razvoj mikrokogeneracijskih uređaja zasnovanih na gorivnim člancima s pogonom na prirodni plin.