High-Temperature Fuel Cells for Mobile and Stationary Applications

Development of SOFC System for Geothermic Oil and Gas Application

Geothermic Fuel Cells (GFC) are being developed to harness the thermal energy released by solid-oxide fuel cells to process the oil shale within a geological formation. This will result in the simultaneous generation of electricity and oil. The concept involves the placement of high- temperature solid-oxide fuel cells within oil-shale formations hundreds of meters below the earth’s surface to heat oil shale to processing temperatures (350°C) required to convert the kerogen within the oil shale into liquid oil. Fueled by natural gas, these fuel cells continuously generate valuable electricity while heating the oil shale, dramatically altering both the projected oil price and the environmental footprint. This approach is in contrast to ex-situ processing in which the oil shale is mined and retorted above ground, a process that is both costly and environmentally invasive. Research thrust areas for this unique application are in experimental testing of GFC modules, modeling the cell-stack and balance-of- plant assembly in the subsurface application environment to assist in its successful design and development, and the development of a multi- objective design and dispatch optimization model of the GFC assembly for unconventional oil and gas production. The primary aims of the modeling effort were to (1) predict the stack electrochemical performance and (2) elucidate the thermal characteristics of the stack assembly during operation through modeling and simulation. Optimization results indicate that the GFC performance is better than current in situ upgrading technologies that rely on electricity supplied from the grid at generation-and- transmission efficiencies near 33%.

FUNDING: Independent Energy Partners(IEP)
COLLABORATORS: DELPHI and IEP

PUBLICATIONS

1. G. Anyenya,·R.J. Braun, K. Lee, N.P. Sullivan, A.M. Newman, Design and Dispatch Optimization of a Solid-Oxide Fuel Cell Assembly for Unconventional Oil and Gas Production, Optimization & Engineering, 19:1037–1081, (2018).
2. G.Anyenya, N.P. Sullivan, R.J. Braun, Modeling and Simulation of a Novel 4.5 kWe Multi-Stack Solid-Oxide Fuel Cell Prototype Assembly for Combined Heat and Power, Energy Conversion & Management, 140:247–259, (2017).
3. G.Anyenya, B. Haun, M. Daubenspeck, R.J. Braun, N.P. Sullivan, Experimental Testing of a Novel kW-scale Multi-stack SOFC Assembly for CHP, ASME Journal of Electrochemical Energy Conversion & Storage, 13(4):041001, (2016).