News

Fuel Cell Promises to Abate Methane/Noise Problems at Well-Heads

November 13, 2018 by Paul Shepard

Fuel Cell Enabling Technologies, Inc. (FCET) has taken major steps toward bringing its breakthrough fuel cell technology to oil and gas well-head sites, helping solve the dual problems of methane emissions and noise pollution that plague many of these sites.

Many oil and gas producing wells run on electricity produced by generators with methane emissions that exceed EPA limits. Some of them also violate municipal zoning prohibitions against "noise pollution." FCET's fuel cells generate electricity silently and with zero methane emissions.

FCET has entered into an agreement with NiGen International LLC to place FCET's fuel cell "stack" on platforms containing all the features needed to make the company's system complete. FCET also reached agreement with Archer and Associates to provide maintenance services for the installed FCET system.

According to FCET president Mark Deininger, "These two agreements with leaders in their respective fields form vital links in the connection between FCET and its ultimate customers." Deininger added, "We know that our fuel cell system offers competitive advantages that make it the ideal solution to the persistent problems of methane gas emissions and excess noise faced by oil and gas drillers. These agreements will provide our target customers with confidence that we can deliver and maintain the systems we sell them."

Deininger noted that the company also is in the final stages of negotiations with David Low (Frisco, TX), the owner of oil-producing properties, to acquire FCET's fuel cell system for installation at one or more well-heads in north Texas or Oklahoma. "We are grateful for the trust placed in us by Mr. Low. We expect to repay that trust through the outstanding performance of our fuel cell system."

Deininger continued, "The key obstacle to widespread commercialization and deployment of SOFCs has been the high operating temperatures required to produce sufficient conductivity within an SOFC electrolyte. Unlike burning or combusting fossil fuels, hydrogen fuel cells produce energy by a chemical catalytic process that converts reformed natural gas (hydrogen) and oxygen into electricity.

"SOFCs typically operate at temperatures between 1300°F and 1650°F (700°C to 900°C), and as a result, require the use of rare and expensive heat-resistant production materials and expensive hardware to harness excess heat. These high operating temperatures also lead to rapid degeneration of SOFCs in the field (degradation of 50% +/- in power output over a three-year period is fairly typical).

"FCET has invested approximately $16 million to acquire, develop, patent, and bring to commercial viability a nanoscale film (electrolyte) that is dramatically more ionically conductive than any of our competitors, thereby extending the life, reducing the cost, reducing the operating temperature and increasing the performance of our SOFCs.

"These developments enable our SOFCs to have potential applications in new sectors (billions of dollars in size) that current fuel cell technology cannot address. Our prototype SOFC, the PozCell™, has demonstrated a continuous downward trajectory of operating temperatures from > 620°C to between 560°C and 350°C, and this lower cost, efficient, scalable fuel cell has allowed us to transition to beta testing in furtherance of commercialization," concluded Deininger.