Financed by EU
Fuel Cell System Development in FluMaBack:
Environmental Impacts of System Manufacturing The scope of LCA study: • • • • • • •
Material extraction process; Manufacturing process; Transport to assembly in Torino; Assembly process; Transport to operating site; Assembly process on-site; Operation of 10,000 h.
The most suitable method for evaluating the environmental impact of the product in all its stages of its life cycle is the life cycle assessment (LCA). In the case of FluMaBack LCA study the functional unit was 1 kWh of electrical energy produced with 3 kWe FluMaBack system, the reference flow was 30,000 kWh of produced electricity. The study was made from cradle to end-of-utilization phase for the end site locations northern Africa (Marrakesh) and northern Europe (Oslo). In manufacturing phase material and energy consumption are considered. In operation phase hydrogen production is done with on-site water electrolysis (required electricity of 52.5 kWh/kg H2). Ideal case was modelled in operational phase with 10,000 working hours and 3 kW power
output to get reference results. Environmental indicators according to CML 2001 methodology were considered. All results are presented on the web site www.flumaback.eu, main conclusions and outlines are: Environmental impact of Marrakesh utilization site is bigger because of electricity mix that in 91 % is produced from fossil fuels. Manufacturing phase has small Figure 1: Fuel cell system manufacturing and operation phases share in overall environmental impact in the case of all environmental indicators except abiotic depletion (AD). Transport has almost negligible influence in all environmental indicators. From BoP components significant environmental impact in general comes from manufacturing of the fuel cell, battery, auxiliary components (mainly due electronic parts), etc. Cabinet has significant impact in GW due to big mass of steal used in manufacturing. Hydrogen produced on-site is the most probable application. In the case of Norway with 95 % from hydro power operational phase has significantly lower impact to overall impact as in the case of Morocco, where 91 % of electricity is produced from fossil fuels. Both cases represent limit cases in operation phase and the recommendation should be that hydrogen production technology has to be chosen depended on the country specificity (electricity mix, natural resources, etc.). Figure 2: CO2 emissions for 1kWh produced by different technologies and 3 kW UPS system in both end-sites Environmental indicators in the study: AD – abiotic depletion, A – acidification, E – eutrophication, GW – global warming, HT – human toxicity, OD – ozone depletion, POC – photochemical ozone creation Table 1: Contribution of all phases (manufacturing, transport and operation) in both end site locations
Collaborative Project: Fluid Management component improvement for Back up fuel cell systems Proposal Number: 301782 Application Area: SP1-JTI-FCH.3: Stationary Power Generation & CHP Topic: SP1-JTI-FCH.2011.3.3: Component improvement for stationary power applications
Coordinator: Electro power systems, Ilaria Rosso Via Livorno 60, 10144 Torino - Italy Tel.: +39 011 2258211 Web: www.flumaback.eu