PEMFC STACKS FOR POWER GENERATION

Industries promoting polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells for stationary and auxiliary power applications are receiving considerable attention because of the attractiveness of the primary markets, such as small, home-based power generation on the roughly 3 – 5 kW level. More recently, interest in auxiliary power applications down to about the 1 kW level has also been steadily increasing. Plug Power, LLC, a fuel cell manufacturer, is primarily pursuing the development of the home-based power systems. Technological advances in PEM fuel cells at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) are of potential utility for the development of readily manufacturable, low-cost and high performance fuel cell systems operating at near-ambient reactant pressures. As such, the two parties are collaborating on addressing some of the more pressing needs as well as some longer term issues. The primary tasks involve the investigation of both stainless steel and composite bipolar plates, CO tolerant anodes, and novel fuel cell system operation schemes