Fuel cell power plant running on anaerobic digester gas

摘要

A fuel cell power plant running on anaerobic digester gas (ADG) produced at a wastewater treatment plant has been constructed as a new renewable energy system. This system consists of a 200 kW fuel cell power plant (Toshiba's PC25C system), and a gas pretreatment unit which removes the very small quantity of contamination from ADG. In order to realize the system, we developed the gas pretreatment unit and remodeled the PC25C fuel cell power plant. Toshiba and the Yokohama Municipal Sewage Works Bureau jointly conducted the technology development, and the fuel cell power plant at the Hokubu Sludge Treatment Center was Japan's first to run on ADG. This type of system is also installed at municipal wastewater treatment plants in the United States in order to conform with the strict environmental regulations, and is usually owned and operated by an energy enterprise under a specific power supply contract with a municipality or local government.