While the current interest in Solid Oxide Electrolysis (SOE) technology, including its ability to operate in reversible mode (rSOC), is undeniable, building a H2-based industry and significantly decrease the current fossil fuel consumption requires scaling up the size of SOE systems [1].
To support in-house development and promote partnerships on experimental evaluations of rSOC modules, the MULTISTACK platform was built over the first semester 2020 at CEA-Liten. It includes a 60 kW industrial steam generator, two 30 kW air preheaters, a 22 kW dedicated air compressor, and four reversible 30 kW DC power supplies, on top of range-appropriate sensors and actuators.
In the last years, SOLIDpower has developed a Large Stack Module (LSM) dedicated to reversible fuel cell/electrolysis operation. It integrates four of SOLIDpower's new generation stacks. Engineered and prototyped in the Swiss facilities of SOLIDpower, one LSM module has been tested at CEA-Liten on the MULTISTACK platform in Autumn 2020.
Picture of SOLIDpower’s LSM / © A.NESCI, SOLIDpower
The LSM was tested in electrolysis mode, converting about 74 kWDC of electrical power into more than 50 kg of hydrogen per day (35.5 kWhDC/kgH2). In addition, fuel utilization higher than 90% and steam conversion greater than 80% were demonstrated at the module level. The results obtained at CEA-Liten confirm the interest of the solid oxide electrolyzer technology for high efficiency hydrogen generators [1].
The LSM connected to the MULTISTACK platform / © D. Guillaudin