Fuel cell manufacturer AFC Energy hopes it will be able to scale up manufacturing of its new high energy-density 200kW anion exchange membrane (AEM) fuel cells—which can run on hydrogen or ammonia—following a large commercial order from technology firm ABB.

ABB put in a £4mn ($5.3mn) order last week for the fuel cells, which it will use to create electric vehicle charging stations for grid-constrained locations and backup power for data centres. Earlier this year, the two firms delivered fully integrated charging systems at ABB’s facility in Estonia that used AFC’s alkaline fuel cell technology.

AFC’s new fuel cells use its own AEM technology, rather than the traditional alkaline liquid electrolyte technology historically used in alkaline fuel cell systems.

$5.3mn – Size of firm’s order from ABB

The technology can use either direct hydrogen or hydrogen cracked from ammonia. The higher energy density of ammonia and its existing logistics and supply chain mean the fuel offers a completely zero-carbon emission footprint when used in off-grid power. 

“This is the world’s first sale of an AEM fuel cell system anywhere,” AFC CEO Adam Bond tells Hydrogen Economist. “It can accept a flexible fuel sourcing strategy, which means you can use ammonia.”

Challenging diesel generators

AFC's new AEM fuel cell system will be scaled to fit in a 10ft shipping container, with the second generation sitting between 600kW and 800kW within the same footprint. With this scale in mind, AFC is targeting the $25bn diesel generator market with the technology as well as the transition away from diesel in maritime.

From the third quarter next year, AFC aims to have a 100kW system before scaling up to manufacture more units by the first quarter of 2023 sized at 200kW. It is working on expanding its supply chain to produce the stacks.

Bond believes AFC can scale up adoption of its fuel cell systems at a faster rate than firms that produce hydrogen-only cells because the global infrastructure for ammonia transport and storage is already in place.

“Hydrogen works where your use-case is next to the source of generation, but the cost of moving it around is currently prohibitive,” he says. “The ammonia supply chain is already there—wherever there is agriculture there is ammonia supply.”

Ammonia is up to three times more energy dense than compressed hydrogen—which is widely used for hydrogen road transport applications—meaning less storage space is required for the same amount of energy.

The existence of port-side infrastructure and a mature distribution network means ammonia is also likely to be a key fuel in decarbonising the maritime sector, according to Bond.

The International Maritime Organization has set a target to reduce annual GHG emissions from the sector by at least 50pc by 2050 compared with 2008 levels. These targets could be largely met through the use of green ammonia, according to research group DNV.

Widespread commercial adoption of ammonia as a fuel would begin in 2037, with ammonia representing 25pc of the maritime fuel mix by 2050. This would equate to demand of around 120mn t/yr of green ammonia.

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Author: Tom Young