Environmental analysis of solid oxide fuel cells

Nowadays, for a new technology to be succesfully introduced, it should compete not only in terms of economy, but also in terms of ecology. Therefore, end-of-pipe treatments are no longer sufficient, but precautionary environmental protection is also necessary. The aim of the present work is an environmental analysis of the solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) technology using the ‘Environmental Precaution Study’. Constituent materials, energy and emission flows are determined and evaluated throughout the entire life cycle. Cradle to grave considerations embrace the production of raw materials and technical equipment, respectively, operation and dismantling. A reference SOFC cell of the planar cell type, based on the current fuel cell programme of the Research Centre Jülich, has been compared with a conventional technology in the form of a 10 MW gas turbine. The latter has been chosen as the competitive conventional technology, because the power output is similar to the expected SOFC power output and the use of the same fuel, natural gas, facilitates the comparison.