Final Report Summary - ALKAMMONIA (ALKAMMONIA: Ammonia-fuelled alkaline fuel cells for remote power applications.)
Executive Summary:
EU FCH JU co-funded project ALKAMMONIA was launched in 2013, aiming to integrate alkaline fuel cell and ammonia thermal decomposition technologies to provide zero emission power from hydrogen derived from cracked ammonia. The key technologies utilised are the Coordinator AFC Energy’s alkaline fuel cell stack and system design, supported by project partner’s ZBT ammonia thermal decomposition apparatus.
The original intent was to focus on the displacement opportunities of one segment of the diesel generator market, powering remote mobile telecommunication masts or Base Transceiver Stations (BTS). In reality, mid-way through implementation of the project, the focus has been broadened to include the entire stationary diesel generator market and the displacement opportunities thereof.
There has been a marked increase recently in the impetus for swifter adoption of power generation solutions that have no emissions at the point of use. Key factors behind this development are:
- The enforced government regulation of reducing emissions from stationary generators, for example from the Non Road Mobile Machinery Directive (https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/automotive/environment-protection/non-road-mobile-machinery_en)
- National and supranational policies enacted recently, providing a shift in the philosophical and regulatory framework underpinning European energy markets.
- Technological developments in the wider hydrogen, energy storage and RES ecosystem have provided a wider array of available options, particularly as regards hybrid solutions.
An advantage of the ALKAMMONIA concept is that it proposes to displace diesel with not hydrogen but ammonia-derived hydrogen. This is fully in line with the vision for a pan-European hydrogen economy, with decentralised power generation and reduced carbon emissions. The energy content of ammonia, or NH3, is much higher than for hydrogen, or H2, with accordingly materially reduced transport and logistics costs and a reduced environmental impact. Ammonia is thus an ideal base fuel for off-grid power in stationary and some mobile applications, such as maritime. Interestingly, the only fuel cell technology proven to work well with contaminants such as NH3 in the fuel stream without expensive fuel pre-treatment options, such as molecular sieves, is the alkaline fuel cell technology utilised by AFC Energy.
There are some major benefits to the use of an alkaline electrolyte rather than other types of fuel cell, as, for example, they have the potential to be more efficient than other types of fuel cell, achieving up to 65% electrical efficiency. This is due to the kinetics of the cathode reaction in alkaline conditions.
Another major advantage of alkaline fuel cells is their ability to operate on lower quality hydrogen sources, so that tolerance to contaminants such as ammonia is far higher than for the more common PEM fuel cells. Additionally, a wider range of catalysts may be used in alkaline fuel cells, further relaxing the requirements for hydrogen purity, for example in the case of the well-known CO poisoning of Platinum Group Metal catalysts.
Both of these attributes have a major effect on overall economics of operation. The cost of the fuel is one of the major drivers determining the cost per kWh of electricity generated by a fuel cell. By being capable of accepting hydrogen of a lower grade, or purity, and having a wider catalyst selection available, the levelised cost of electricity, or LCOE, can be demonstrably reduced, making alkaline fuel cells a competitive choice for diesel generator displacement in certain market segments.
Project Context and Objectives:
In project ALKAMMONIA, a proof-of-concept system designed to provide power in remote applications was developed and tested.
The project integrated three innovative and proven technologies: a highly efficient and low-cost alkaline fuel cell system, plus a novel ammonia fuel system which consists of a fuel delivery system and a cracker system for generation of a hydrogen rich gas. The integrated system was built and tested.
A high proportion (> 75%) of the financial request was spent on personnel costs, creating highly skilled permanent jobs in the European clean energy sector.
The consortium is comprised of global leaders in the fields of alkaline fuel cell development, fuel cell system integration, fuel cell certification, ammonia cracking technology and energy technology assessment. The fuel cell and fuel processing technologies that are combined in project ALKAMMONIA have both demonstrated excellence at laboratory test level. The consortium was thus ideally suited to combine the three technologies and deliver a working proof-of-concept system to demonstrate commercial viability in target markets.
In order to achieve the overarching goal of producing a potentially commercially viable and reliably operating proof-of-concept alkaline fuel cell system for remote power generation applications, the Consortium agreed a set of intermediate objectives which go beyond the minimum requirements of Topic SP1-JTI-FCH.2012.3.5. These are described in the table below:
PROJECT ALKAMMONIA OBJECTIVES
1. A flawlessly functioning ammonia cracker that uses a combustion process to provide the heat for the dissociation process
2. A flawlessly functioning 3-5kW stack, based on an improved design of AFC Energy’s current fuel cell stack, which demonstrates the following characteristics:
- Stack efficiency > 50% when using pure hydrogen
- Stack weight under 40kg/kW
3. A flawlessly functioning AFC balance of plant with the following characteristics:
- Parasitic power requirements of <4% of stack output for the entire design operating range
- BoP costs of less than 1.500 €/kW
4. Seamless integration of the ammonia fuel system and the alkaline fuel cell technologies into a flawlessly functioning proof-of-concept system, which complies with all relevant fuel cell regulation and CE marking directives.
5. Demonstrate cost competitiveness of the integrated 3-5kW proof-of-concept system against other technologies competing in the same target market(s).
6. Demonstrate six weeks continuous operation of the system using liquid ammonia.*
7. A detailed analysis of the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the proof of concept system that addresses its sustainability performance, including a comparison with competing systems
The Consortium put together to achieve these objectives is comprised of project partners hailing from four different countries:
BENEFICIARY NUMBER BENEFICIARY NAME BENEFICIARY SHORT NAME COUNTRY
Coordinator
1 AFC Energy plc AFCEN UK
2 Acta S.p.A.* ACTA Italy
3 Universität Duisburg-Essen UDE Germany
4 Zentrum für Brennstoffzellentechnik ZBT GmbH* ZBT Germany
5 UPS Systems plc** / Fuel Cell Systems Ltd UPSS/FCS UK
6 Paul Scherrer Institut PSI Switzerland
7 Federation of the Scientific and Technical Associations / European Hydrogen Association FAST-EHA Italy
Notes
* Partner 2 left the Consortium in January 2015; ZBT took over its role
** Partner 5 left the Consortium in November 2015; FCS took over its role
Project Results:
The methodology and Work Breakdown Structure developed in principle to achieve the project objectives, as well as the key results achieved during the five years and two months of work under this project, spanning May 2013 to June 2018, are delineated further below. In this section, detail is only provided on the technically minded scope of work packages one through six.
WORK PACKAGE NO. WORK PACKAGE TITLE TYPE OF ACTIVITY LEAD PARTICIPANT
1 Modelling RTD UDE
2 Fuel cell adaption and development RTD AFCEN
3 Ammonia fuel system development RTD ZBT
4 Systems integration RTD FCS
5 Testing and validation RTD AFCEN
6 Analysis RTD PSI
7 Communication and dissemination RTD FAST-EHA
8 Project controls RTD AFCEN
9 Project management MGT AFCEN
1. MODELLING
The objective of this work package has been to aid the development of the alkaline fuel cell stack and Balance of Plant by using advanced simulation methods and models. The work package includes technical modelling on three different system levels: Single fuel cell level, stack level and integrated system level. These models have delivered information about the cell, stack and system behaviour for various steady state and dynamic operation conditions.
Most of the work here has been led by partner UDE. In addition to the technical models, a cost model for the integrated system has been developed by partner PSI.
The cost model has provided a detailed analysis of the profitability and cost effectiveness of the ALKAMMONIA system and a comparison with commercially available competing remote power systems.
This work package is very closely linked to work packages WP2: Fuel Cell Adaption and Development, WP3: Ammonia Fuel System Development and WP4: Systems Integration, providing valuable data to inform design decisions.
2. FUEL CELL ADAPTION AND DEVELOPMENT
The objective of this work package has been to deliver a flawlessly functioning and highly efficient fuel cell system. The emphasis of the fuel cell system design is on efficiency, reliability and increased volumetric and gravimetric power density.
The work package was split into three main tasks, namely stack improvement, Balance of Plant design and construction of a proof-of-concept system. The lead participant has been AFCEN.
The AFC stack conventionally used in AFCEN’s fuel cell systems has a design output of 10kW. The power output required by the base transceiver stations is in the range of 3-5kW. The exact design power output of the fuel cell has been determined in WP4. The aim of this work package has been to develop AFCEN’s current 101-cell stack to the required designed power output, improving the stack performance with regards to power density and longevity. Detailed Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations carried out by UDE in WP1 have aided the design process.
The Balance of Plant (BoP) of AFCEN’s fuel cell system at the project planning stage was designed for a nominal power output of 50kW and relied on several external services to be provided – e.g. high-pressure air and coolant. In remote power applications such external services are generally not available and in order to achieve a highly efficient fuel cell system a new design of BoP has had to be developed. Non-alkaline fuel cell systems operating in the 3 – 5kW range usually have parasitic losses greater than 10%. The aim of the partners was to keep the parasitic losses of the BoP to below 4% of the fuel cell output, even when the fuel cell system is partially loaded. The system efficiency and reliability has therefore been increased by minimising the number of BoP components. Industrially proven pumps and blowers have been selected that work efficiently over the entire operating range. System reliability could be further increased by incorporating a remote monitoring ability that allows operators to quickly identify problems, and rectify them, before they cause a system shut-down. The availability of the system should be maximised by allowing critical components to be changed easily and quickly in the field.
A system was built for testing and validation, which was further upgraded based on test results for system development and integration work in WP5.
3. AMMONIA FUEL SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
The objective of this work package has been the development and delivery of a functional sample for an ammonia cracker system and ammonia fuel delivery system, both operated by a controller unit for integration with the fuel cell system. The controller of the ammonia fuel system (fuel delivery system plus cracker system) communicates with the master controller of the integrated system. The fuel delivery system has been designed for precise dosing of ammonia to the cracker system, including all relevant safety features. The cracker system is designed for the efficient conversion of ammonia to a hydrogen rich gas mixture (hydrogen/nitrogen) with low residual ammonia. The cracker system will be started with LPG (propane) fed to the integrated burner. In nominal operation, it was envisioned that the heat for the decomposition of ammonia will be supplied by oxidising the anode off-gas of the fuel cell in the integrated burner.
Regulations, codes and standards (RCS) which are applicable to the ammonia fuel system were investigated in WP5 and considered in the development of the cracker system, as well as the fuel delivery system, from the very beginning, in order to ensure the compliance of the functional sample. Note that the original CE marking expectation has been superseded by the more rigorous TUEV certification. Also, aspects of cost-optimised manufacturing were considered, in order to achieve cost targets of the cracker system and fuel delivery system.
The lead participant for WP3 has been ZBT.
4. SYSTEMS INTEGRATION
This work package delivered a functioning system that integrated the fuel cell system developed and built in WP2 and the ammonia fuel system developed and built in WP3. In addition to those two subsystems, the power conditioning system required has also been developed in this work package.
As a first step, a high-level design of the integrated system was performed. During this process, different possible system configurations were developed and evaluated in regard to overall system efficiency, safety, cost and reliability. The high-level design also took into consideration the packaging and layout of the integrated system in order to achieve a compact and easily maintainable system. The level of the power output was determined by reviewing literature on Base Transceiver Station (BTS) requirements.
The high-level integrated system design was concluded successfully in Reporting Period 1. The remote monitoring & master controller, power conditioning and system layout and packaging development efforts were also all concluded successfully. Finally, the integrated system was assembled, installed and commissioned at the AFCEN Dunsfold facilities, in readiness for the other sub-systems built by ZBT, i.e. the ammonia cracker and fuel delivery sub-systems.
The lead participants for WP4 have been AFCEN and FCS.
5. TESTING AND VALIDATION
The objectives in this work package primarily have to do with testing and validation of the fuel cell and cracker prototypes, the integrated system and compliance with Regulations, Codes and Standards (RCS) and certification of the cracker. The lead participants for WP4 have been AFCEN and ZBT. Tasks included:
▪ Testing/ Validation of Fuel Cell Prototype
▪ Testing/ Validation of Cracker Prototype
▪ Testing/ Validation of Integrated System
▪ Regulatory Compliance & CE Certification
The fuel cell system prototype and the ammonia cracker prototype were each tested independently of each other, at AFCEN’s Dunsfold laboratories and ZBT’s Duisburg facilities. Subsequently, these sub-systems, including the fuel delivery system, were integrated together at Dunsfold, where they were subsequently tested.
In addition, the functional cracker sample design has been approved by TUEV, with the relevant CE marking roadmap established as well, though the last was not actioned during the project, as the costs and time expended would not be justified by attaining CE marking for, effectively, a prototype.
6. ANALYSIS
This WP was led by the Paul Scherrer Institute’s Technology Assessment Group (PSI). The aim of this WP has been to determine the potential environmental, human health and socio-economic burdens and impacts of using the proposed fuel cell system in combination with an ammonia fuel system for remote power applications.
The primary emphasis of the WP has been a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the construction, operation and disposal of the integrated ALKAMMONIA system. The complete LCA also includes the fuel cycles of the ammonia feeding the fuel cell and the recycling and refurbishment of fuel cell electrodes and the ammonia cracker catalyst, either for continued use or to regain materials at the end-of-life. As the main function of the ALKAMMONIA system is to provide electricity to telecommunication Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), the results were compared to the supply of electricity from available and alternative energy conversion devices and energy carriers. In addition to the Life Cycle Assessment, a range of social and economic indicators related to these additional aspects of sustainability were analysed. These also helped determine total costs and accident risks in the fuel chain. Total costs include not just those reflected in the costs to the end-energy consumer but also the external costs imposed on the environment, society and the economy as a result of, for example, pollutant damages.
This work package’s Life Cycle Assessment quantified the environmental burdens and health effects of different Alkammonia system sizes over the whole life cycle. All inputs of materials, energy, transportation and services and all waste or emission inputs have been quantified and translated into environmental impacts.
Analyses have been performed for a 2.5kW prototype system, a 10kW system for powering Base Transceiver Stations, and a 40kW and 160kW system for powering remote facilities, construction sites, or for cleaning water in disaster or desert areas. Electricity only systems have been analysed as there is no intended use of waste heat from the system. The system consists of the fuel cells collected in cartridges, which are placed together with the Balance of Plant (BoP) into a container and shipped to the destination place. The fuel cells are powered by cracked ammonia.
Results indicate that the environmental impacts related to the production of 1kWh of electricity depend mainly on the production pathway of the ammonia used as energy carrier on the one hand and on the catalyst material on the other hand. Steel used in the BoP, and mining of the materials used in the Gas Diffusion Electrode (GDE) and the cell plates are further important drivers of impacts on environment and health. These effects can be minimised by re-using and recycling these metals and by buying ammonia from a producer using hydropower or other renewable electrolysis, i.e. ‘green Ammonia’.
Additionally, work was done on ALKAMMONIA Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis, Multi-Criterion decision Analysis (MCDA) and Risk analysis. All were evaluated successfully for the project.
Potential Impact:
The project impact can be qualified with the table below, adhering to the EU FCH JU five key objectives, listed in its’ founding regulation.
Table 1 Alkammonia Project impact measured against EU FCH JU founding objectives
FCH JU Objective Relevance for project activities
(HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW) Project activities
contribution in reaching a specific Programme Objective
Reduce the production cost of fuel cell systems to be used in transport applications, while increasing their lifetime to levels which can compete with conventional technologies LOW Not applicable, as the ALKAMMONIA impact is in the stationary, and potentially portable, sector.
Increase the electrical efficiency and the durability of the different fuel cells used for power production to levels
which can compete with conventional technologies, while reducing costs HIGH Stack development as part of this project has addressed
both increased electrical efficiency and durability of
alkaline fuel cells.
Increase the energy efficiency of production of hydrogen mainly from water electrolysis and renewable sources
while reducing operating and capital costs, so that the combined system of the hydrogen production and the
conversion using the fuel cell system can compete with the alternatives for electricity production available on the
market MEDIUM By achieving a high efficiency for the NH3 Cracker,
compared to commercially available solutions, and the
forecast use of FC Stack H2 tail-gas, H2 production via
cracked NH3 can be reduced significantly. PSI analysis on
the subject confirms these findings.
Demonstrate on a large scale the feasibility of using hydrogen to support integration of renewable energy sources into the energy systems, including through its use as a competitive energy storage medium for
electricity produced from renewable energy sources MEDIUM Energy storage, albeit in the form of ammonia, not
hydrogen, is being investigated as the next step for
commercialisation of the ALKAMMONIA integrated
system.
Reduce the use of the EU defined ‘Critical raw materials’, for instance through low-platinum or platinum-free
resources and through recycling or reducing or avoiding the use of rare earth elements MEDIUM Electrode development activities have significantly
reduced all PGM (Platinum Group Metals) used in the
project fuel cell stacks.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BODY OF FUEL CELL SYSTEMS KNOWLEDGE
Scientific knowledge has also been greatly enhanced by the project. Subject matters that the project has had a meaningful impact on include key issues such as:
➢ Understanding the effect of ammonia contamination on AFC operation at lab scale and industrial scale, both with Pt and non Pt catalysts;
➢ Regulatory compliance and safety considerations for ammonia fuelled alkaline fuel deployment at large-scale;
➢ Environmental impact analysis, to a limited extent and as part of regulatory requirements, which has increased the visibility of potential environmental effects for ammonia fuelled alkaline fuel cell system deployment;
➢ Understanding of ammonia cracking process → including catalyst and material selection investigations;
➢ Evaluation of the cost and environmental impact of alkaline fuel cell implementation in their entire product life-cycle and comparison to other technologies;
➢ Establishment of risk and safety hazards inherent to a technology such as fuel cells using a flammable gas, such as hydrogen and ammonia, has been compared to several alternatives and analysed by phase of lifecycle, effectively from ‘cradle-to-grave’;
➢ Development of control methodology to integrate ammonia cracking technology with a fuel cell system; and
➢ Methods to increase alkaline fuel cell stack and system efficiency to ensure optimal utilisation of ammonia fuel.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
This project’s Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) quantifies the environmental burdens and health effects of different Alkammonia system sizes over the whole life cycle. All inputs of materials, energy, transportation and services and all waste or emission inputs have been quantified and translated into environmental impacts.
Detailed LCI datasets of the prototype and the 10kW Alkammonia system were set up, and inputs for extrapolations toward the 40kW and 150kW system were provided by the project partners. The 10kW system was specified for both a second-of-a kind (SOAK) and an n-th of a kind (NOAK) generation, while estimates for the two larger systems are NOAK.
The goal of this LCA subtask was to quantify environmental impacts and burdens associated with the Alkammonia fuel cell system. This goal was reached by applying the ReCiPe Midpoint (H) impact categories, two ReCiPe Endpoint (H) categories, minerals and metals depletion factors as well as a cumulative energy demand calculation on the collected LCI data.
System adverse effects can be decreased by using ammonia from renewable sources, by implementing a sound recycling system of the platinum-group metals, and by recycling of other used metals. The Alkammonia system is already on a good trajectory regarding the latter, as several system components are being reused at least 10 times, which leads to decrease materials and metals use.
Choosing less carbon intensive ammonia sources decreases the 10 kW NOAK climate change load from 1.4 kg CO2eq/kWh to around 0.3 kg CO2eq/kWh (see Figure 1), which finally would make the ALKAMMONIA system a viable electricity producing technology.
Figure 1: Effect of changing ammonia production pathway in total climate change impacts of the 10 kW NOAK system.
The most important parameters for good performance of the Alkammonia system are the efficiencies of the cells and the fuel supply and use, as could be shown in a sensitivity analysis as presented in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Sensitivity analysis on the climate change indicator for chosen system parameters using the 10 kW NOAK system as base case. Numbers in brackets show the values of the base case, which are set to 1.
Additional work, not detailed here, shows the performance of the Alkammonia system compared to competitive off-grid powering systems.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC BENEFITS AND WIDER SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS
AFC Energy, founded in 2006, have been developing alkaline fuel cell systems for industrial deployment for over a decade. On large-scale installations and deployment for the chemical and industrial gases sector, another EU FCH JU co-funded project, POWER-UP, helped AFCEN achieve key development targets. ALKAMMONIA has helped address AFCEN’s targets for small- to mid- scale deployment of alkaline fuel cell systems in what is currently the diesel generator/ temporary power market, such as powering of BTS as well as other off-grid or edge-of-grid applications. As the two projects have been worked on largely in parallel, synergies have been made possible, as was sharing of mutual learnings across the organisation on AFCEN’s alkaline fuel cell (AFC) technology, which lies at the heart of both projects.
The ALKAMMONIA project proposal preparation actually dates back to as early as 2012, with the culmination of efforts taking place formally by mid- 2018, though informally, i.e. without further EU funding, the project has since progressed the principal technologies employed, including ZBT’s NH3 cracker system. In the intervening years since 2012, and the project formal start in 2013, long-term socio-economic patterns and market demand is clearly manifesting for decentralised power generation. In this case a flexible (i.e. load-following and peaking) approach is needed, which can also help address the grid management challenges arising from the last two decades’ worth of widespread adoption of non-baseload renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar energy.
In a multi-annual, exhaustive analysis, conducted by the prestigious Paul Scherrer Institute of Switzerland, who are also a project partner, a clear business case is made for the deployment of alkaline fuel cells in diverse applications, as identified above.
ALKAMMONIA has thus begun to open up the potential for significant diesel generator displacement opportunities.
The learning from the project has underpinned the development of AFCEN’s products for both the EV Charging and Temporary Power markets. AFCEN launched its EV charger to the market in early 2020 in response to the need for vehicle charging in areas with minimal grid coverage or places where reinforcement costs would be excessive, with the system able to accept ammonia as its feedstock. In addition, AFCEN also announced a strategic collaboration with ACCIONA in June 2020 to support the leading constructors’ strategy to decarbonise its development sites in Europe, with AFCEN’s work with them in 2021 evaluating both hydrogen and ammonia as fuel sources to support comparative fuel evaluation in a real-world construction environment.
AFCEN’s future markets also recognise the importance of ammonia as a fuel. Stringent emissions targets have been set in the Maritime industry, with the IMO GHG Strategy committing the sector to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases from shipping by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008. The IMO also believes that a sizeable proportion of decarbonisation efforts will come as a result of using ammonia as a fuel, influencing AFCEN’s decision to partner with Ricardo plc to develop innovative new products that utilise high-energy dense green ammonia fuel.
A full assessment of AFCEN’s development progress can be found here:
https://15xe332febdf3nmjvi2x5uu6-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AFC-Energy-Annual-Report-2020.pdf
Finally, another indication that the project scope of work has been defined appropriately, with the maximum benefit to not only AFC technology, but also the broader green hydrogen and renewable energy economy, are competing alternatives that have been ‘cropping up’ recently. This demonstrates that the fundamental business case and model for growth is there, as emulated by alternative technical solutions.
In summary, and paraphrasing Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, Secretary General of Hydrogen Europe, it is not only Hydrogen, but Ammonia also, that can provide a meaningful answer to Today’s “Climate Megatrends”, i.e. the challenges of RES integration, sectoral integration, energy efficiency, decarbonisation, digitalisation, decentralisation and the circular economy.
MAIN DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES AND EXPLOITATION OF RESULTS
Where possible, the Consortium partners further increased the impact of the project by sharing the project results in scientific papers and conferences and by running workshops for interested parties. However, due to the inherently confidential nature of a large part of the data, information and reports garnered from this project, the scope for communication and dissemination of said results has been moderated somewhat.
Additionally, whether via the project website, newsletter releases, participation in exhibitions and fairs and interacting directly with interested stakeholders, the project and its results at any given time have been communicated to non-academic audiences as well.
During the execution of work package seven in particular, the Consortium has striven to ensure that the project was communicated to as wide an audience as possible with the resources available.
This continued into the post-funding period, with attendance in key events and further updates of the project website, showing the impact the project has had and evincing the commitment of the project partners to capitalise on the advancement of knowledge achieved within ALKAMMONIA.
The detailed list of the activities promoting dissemination and communication of the project successes is reported further along in this report. The communication and dissemination of the project results have thus assisted in the capitalisation and exploitation of the numerous ALKAMMONIA results.
List of Websites:
The ALKAMMONIA project website can be found under the link:
http://alkammonia.eu/
Coordinator organisation contact details:
AFC ENERGY PLC,
Unit 71.4 Dunsfold Park, Stovolds Hill
Cranleigh, Surrey
GU6 8TB
Tel.: +44 (0) 1483 276 726
Website: http://www.afcenergy.com/
Partner organisation contact details:
UNIVERSITÄT DUISBURG-ESSEN,
https://www.uni-due.de/en/
ZENTRUM FÜR BRENNSTOFFZELLENTECHNIK ZBT GMBH,
http://www.zbt-duisburg.de/
FUEL CELL SYSTEMS LTD,
https://www.fuelcellsystems.co.uk/
PAUL SCHERRER INSTITUTE,
https://www.psi.ch/
EUROPEAN HYDROGEN ASSOCIATION - FEDERATION OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ASSOCIATIONS,
http://www.h2euro.org/
EU FCH JU co-funded project ALKAMMONIA was launched in 2013, aiming to integrate alkaline fuel cell and ammonia thermal decomposition technologies to provide zero emission power from hydrogen derived from cracked ammonia. The key technologies utilised are the Coordinator AFC Energy’s alkaline fuel cell stack and system design, supported by project partner’s ZBT ammonia thermal decomposition apparatus.
The original intent was to focus on the displacement opportunities of one segment of the diesel generator market, powering remote mobile telecommunication masts or Base Transceiver Stations (BTS). In reality, mid-way through implementation of the project, the focus has been broadened to include the entire stationary diesel generator market and the displacement opportunities thereof.
There has been a marked increase recently in the impetus for swifter adoption of power generation solutions that have no emissions at the point of use. Key factors behind this development are:
- The enforced government regulation of reducing emissions from stationary generators, for example from the Non Road Mobile Machinery Directive (https://ec.europa.eu/growth/sectors/automotive/environment-protection/non-road-mobile-machinery_en)
- National and supranational policies enacted recently, providing a shift in the philosophical and regulatory framework underpinning European energy markets.
- Technological developments in the wider hydrogen, energy storage and RES ecosystem have provided a wider array of available options, particularly as regards hybrid solutions.
An advantage of the ALKAMMONIA concept is that it proposes to displace diesel with not hydrogen but ammonia-derived hydrogen. This is fully in line with the vision for a pan-European hydrogen economy, with decentralised power generation and reduced carbon emissions. The energy content of ammonia, or NH3, is much higher than for hydrogen, or H2, with accordingly materially reduced transport and logistics costs and a reduced environmental impact. Ammonia is thus an ideal base fuel for off-grid power in stationary and some mobile applications, such as maritime. Interestingly, the only fuel cell technology proven to work well with contaminants such as NH3 in the fuel stream without expensive fuel pre-treatment options, such as molecular sieves, is the alkaline fuel cell technology utilised by AFC Energy.
There are some major benefits to the use of an alkaline electrolyte rather than other types of fuel cell, as, for example, they have the potential to be more efficient than other types of fuel cell, achieving up to 65% electrical efficiency. This is due to the kinetics of the cathode reaction in alkaline conditions.
Another major advantage of alkaline fuel cells is their ability to operate on lower quality hydrogen sources, so that tolerance to contaminants such as ammonia is far higher than for the more common PEM fuel cells. Additionally, a wider range of catalysts may be used in alkaline fuel cells, further relaxing the requirements for hydrogen purity, for example in the case of the well-known CO poisoning of Platinum Group Metal catalysts.
Both of these attributes have a major effect on overall economics of operation. The cost of the fuel is one of the major drivers determining the cost per kWh of electricity generated by a fuel cell. By being capable of accepting hydrogen of a lower grade, or purity, and having a wider catalyst selection available, the levelised cost of electricity, or LCOE, can be demonstrably reduced, making alkaline fuel cells a competitive choice for diesel generator displacement in certain market segments.
Project Context and Objectives:
In project ALKAMMONIA, a proof-of-concept system designed to provide power in remote applications was developed and tested.
The project integrated three innovative and proven technologies: a highly efficient and low-cost alkaline fuel cell system, plus a novel ammonia fuel system which consists of a fuel delivery system and a cracker system for generation of a hydrogen rich gas. The integrated system was built and tested.
A high proportion (> 75%) of the financial request was spent on personnel costs, creating highly skilled permanent jobs in the European clean energy sector.
The consortium is comprised of global leaders in the fields of alkaline fuel cell development, fuel cell system integration, fuel cell certification, ammonia cracking technology and energy technology assessment. The fuel cell and fuel processing technologies that are combined in project ALKAMMONIA have both demonstrated excellence at laboratory test level. The consortium was thus ideally suited to combine the three technologies and deliver a working proof-of-concept system to demonstrate commercial viability in target markets.
In order to achieve the overarching goal of producing a potentially commercially viable and reliably operating proof-of-concept alkaline fuel cell system for remote power generation applications, the Consortium agreed a set of intermediate objectives which go beyond the minimum requirements of Topic SP1-JTI-FCH.2012.3.5. These are described in the table below:
PROJECT ALKAMMONIA OBJECTIVES
1. A flawlessly functioning ammonia cracker that uses a combustion process to provide the heat for the dissociation process
2. A flawlessly functioning 3-5kW stack, based on an improved design of AFC Energy’s current fuel cell stack, which demonstrates the following characteristics:
- Stack efficiency > 50% when using pure hydrogen
- Stack weight under 40kg/kW
3. A flawlessly functioning AFC balance of plant with the following characteristics:
- Parasitic power requirements of <4% of stack output for the entire design operating range
- BoP costs of less than 1.500 €/kW
4. Seamless integration of the ammonia fuel system and the alkaline fuel cell technologies into a flawlessly functioning proof-of-concept system, which complies with all relevant fuel cell regulation and CE marking directives.
5. Demonstrate cost competitiveness of the integrated 3-5kW proof-of-concept system against other technologies competing in the same target market(s).
6. Demonstrate six weeks continuous operation of the system using liquid ammonia.*
7. A detailed analysis of the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the proof of concept system that addresses its sustainability performance, including a comparison with competing systems
The Consortium put together to achieve these objectives is comprised of project partners hailing from four different countries:
BENEFICIARY NUMBER BENEFICIARY NAME BENEFICIARY SHORT NAME COUNTRY
Coordinator
1 AFC Energy plc AFCEN UK
2 Acta S.p.A.* ACTA Italy
3 Universität Duisburg-Essen UDE Germany
4 Zentrum für Brennstoffzellentechnik ZBT GmbH* ZBT Germany
5 UPS Systems plc** / Fuel Cell Systems Ltd UPSS/FCS UK
6 Paul Scherrer Institut PSI Switzerland
7 Federation of the Scientific and Technical Associations / European Hydrogen Association FAST-EHA Italy
Notes
* Partner 2 left the Consortium in January 2015; ZBT took over its role
** Partner 5 left the Consortium in November 2015; FCS took over its role
Project Results:
The methodology and Work Breakdown Structure developed in principle to achieve the project objectives, as well as the key results achieved during the five years and two months of work under this project, spanning May 2013 to June 2018, are delineated further below. In this section, detail is only provided on the technically minded scope of work packages one through six.
WORK PACKAGE NO. WORK PACKAGE TITLE TYPE OF ACTIVITY LEAD PARTICIPANT
1 Modelling RTD UDE
2 Fuel cell adaption and development RTD AFCEN
3 Ammonia fuel system development RTD ZBT
4 Systems integration RTD FCS
5 Testing and validation RTD AFCEN
6 Analysis RTD PSI
7 Communication and dissemination RTD FAST-EHA
8 Project controls RTD AFCEN
9 Project management MGT AFCEN
1. MODELLING
The objective of this work package has been to aid the development of the alkaline fuel cell stack and Balance of Plant by using advanced simulation methods and models. The work package includes technical modelling on three different system levels: Single fuel cell level, stack level and integrated system level. These models have delivered information about the cell, stack and system behaviour for various steady state and dynamic operation conditions.
Most of the work here has been led by partner UDE. In addition to the technical models, a cost model for the integrated system has been developed by partner PSI.
The cost model has provided a detailed analysis of the profitability and cost effectiveness of the ALKAMMONIA system and a comparison with commercially available competing remote power systems.
This work package is very closely linked to work packages WP2: Fuel Cell Adaption and Development, WP3: Ammonia Fuel System Development and WP4: Systems Integration, providing valuable data to inform design decisions.
2. FUEL CELL ADAPTION AND DEVELOPMENT
The objective of this work package has been to deliver a flawlessly functioning and highly efficient fuel cell system. The emphasis of the fuel cell system design is on efficiency, reliability and increased volumetric and gravimetric power density.
The work package was split into three main tasks, namely stack improvement, Balance of Plant design and construction of a proof-of-concept system. The lead participant has been AFCEN.
The AFC stack conventionally used in AFCEN’s fuel cell systems has a design output of 10kW. The power output required by the base transceiver stations is in the range of 3-5kW. The exact design power output of the fuel cell has been determined in WP4. The aim of this work package has been to develop AFCEN’s current 101-cell stack to the required designed power output, improving the stack performance with regards to power density and longevity. Detailed Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) simulations carried out by UDE in WP1 have aided the design process.
The Balance of Plant (BoP) of AFCEN’s fuel cell system at the project planning stage was designed for a nominal power output of 50kW and relied on several external services to be provided – e.g. high-pressure air and coolant. In remote power applications such external services are generally not available and in order to achieve a highly efficient fuel cell system a new design of BoP has had to be developed. Non-alkaline fuel cell systems operating in the 3 – 5kW range usually have parasitic losses greater than 10%. The aim of the partners was to keep the parasitic losses of the BoP to below 4% of the fuel cell output, even when the fuel cell system is partially loaded. The system efficiency and reliability has therefore been increased by minimising the number of BoP components. Industrially proven pumps and blowers have been selected that work efficiently over the entire operating range. System reliability could be further increased by incorporating a remote monitoring ability that allows operators to quickly identify problems, and rectify them, before they cause a system shut-down. The availability of the system should be maximised by allowing critical components to be changed easily and quickly in the field.
A system was built for testing and validation, which was further upgraded based on test results for system development and integration work in WP5.
3. AMMONIA FUEL SYSTEM DEVELOPMENT
The objective of this work package has been the development and delivery of a functional sample for an ammonia cracker system and ammonia fuel delivery system, both operated by a controller unit for integration with the fuel cell system. The controller of the ammonia fuel system (fuel delivery system plus cracker system) communicates with the master controller of the integrated system. The fuel delivery system has been designed for precise dosing of ammonia to the cracker system, including all relevant safety features. The cracker system is designed for the efficient conversion of ammonia to a hydrogen rich gas mixture (hydrogen/nitrogen) with low residual ammonia. The cracker system will be started with LPG (propane) fed to the integrated burner. In nominal operation, it was envisioned that the heat for the decomposition of ammonia will be supplied by oxidising the anode off-gas of the fuel cell in the integrated burner.
Regulations, codes and standards (RCS) which are applicable to the ammonia fuel system were investigated in WP5 and considered in the development of the cracker system, as well as the fuel delivery system, from the very beginning, in order to ensure the compliance of the functional sample. Note that the original CE marking expectation has been superseded by the more rigorous TUEV certification. Also, aspects of cost-optimised manufacturing were considered, in order to achieve cost targets of the cracker system and fuel delivery system.
The lead participant for WP3 has been ZBT.
4. SYSTEMS INTEGRATION
This work package delivered a functioning system that integrated the fuel cell system developed and built in WP2 and the ammonia fuel system developed and built in WP3. In addition to those two subsystems, the power conditioning system required has also been developed in this work package.
As a first step, a high-level design of the integrated system was performed. During this process, different possible system configurations were developed and evaluated in regard to overall system efficiency, safety, cost and reliability. The high-level design also took into consideration the packaging and layout of the integrated system in order to achieve a compact and easily maintainable system. The level of the power output was determined by reviewing literature on Base Transceiver Station (BTS) requirements.
The high-level integrated system design was concluded successfully in Reporting Period 1. The remote monitoring & master controller, power conditioning and system layout and packaging development efforts were also all concluded successfully. Finally, the integrated system was assembled, installed and commissioned at the AFCEN Dunsfold facilities, in readiness for the other sub-systems built by ZBT, i.e. the ammonia cracker and fuel delivery sub-systems.
The lead participants for WP4 have been AFCEN and FCS.
5. TESTING AND VALIDATION
The objectives in this work package primarily have to do with testing and validation of the fuel cell and cracker prototypes, the integrated system and compliance with Regulations, Codes and Standards (RCS) and certification of the cracker. The lead participants for WP4 have been AFCEN and ZBT. Tasks included:
▪ Testing/ Validation of Fuel Cell Prototype
▪ Testing/ Validation of Cracker Prototype
▪ Testing/ Validation of Integrated System
▪ Regulatory Compliance & CE Certification
The fuel cell system prototype and the ammonia cracker prototype were each tested independently of each other, at AFCEN’s Dunsfold laboratories and ZBT’s Duisburg facilities. Subsequently, these sub-systems, including the fuel delivery system, were integrated together at Dunsfold, where they were subsequently tested.
In addition, the functional cracker sample design has been approved by TUEV, with the relevant CE marking roadmap established as well, though the last was not actioned during the project, as the costs and time expended would not be justified by attaining CE marking for, effectively, a prototype.
6. ANALYSIS
This WP was led by the Paul Scherrer Institute’s Technology Assessment Group (PSI). The aim of this WP has been to determine the potential environmental, human health and socio-economic burdens and impacts of using the proposed fuel cell system in combination with an ammonia fuel system for remote power applications.
The primary emphasis of the WP has been a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of the construction, operation and disposal of the integrated ALKAMMONIA system. The complete LCA also includes the fuel cycles of the ammonia feeding the fuel cell and the recycling and refurbishment of fuel cell electrodes and the ammonia cracker catalyst, either for continued use or to regain materials at the end-of-life. As the main function of the ALKAMMONIA system is to provide electricity to telecommunication Base Transceiver Stations (BTS), the results were compared to the supply of electricity from available and alternative energy conversion devices and energy carriers. In addition to the Life Cycle Assessment, a range of social and economic indicators related to these additional aspects of sustainability were analysed. These also helped determine total costs and accident risks in the fuel chain. Total costs include not just those reflected in the costs to the end-energy consumer but also the external costs imposed on the environment, society and the economy as a result of, for example, pollutant damages.
This work package’s Life Cycle Assessment quantified the environmental burdens and health effects of different Alkammonia system sizes over the whole life cycle. All inputs of materials, energy, transportation and services and all waste or emission inputs have been quantified and translated into environmental impacts.
Analyses have been performed for a 2.5kW prototype system, a 10kW system for powering Base Transceiver Stations, and a 40kW and 160kW system for powering remote facilities, construction sites, or for cleaning water in disaster or desert areas. Electricity only systems have been analysed as there is no intended use of waste heat from the system. The system consists of the fuel cells collected in cartridges, which are placed together with the Balance of Plant (BoP) into a container and shipped to the destination place. The fuel cells are powered by cracked ammonia.
Results indicate that the environmental impacts related to the production of 1kWh of electricity depend mainly on the production pathway of the ammonia used as energy carrier on the one hand and on the catalyst material on the other hand. Steel used in the BoP, and mining of the materials used in the Gas Diffusion Electrode (GDE) and the cell plates are further important drivers of impacts on environment and health. These effects can be minimised by re-using and recycling these metals and by buying ammonia from a producer using hydropower or other renewable electrolysis, i.e. ‘green Ammonia’.
Additionally, work was done on ALKAMMONIA Life Cycle Cost (LCC) analysis, Multi-Criterion decision Analysis (MCDA) and Risk analysis. All were evaluated successfully for the project.
Potential Impact:
The project impact can be qualified with the table below, adhering to the EU FCH JU five key objectives, listed in its’ founding regulation.
Table 1 Alkammonia Project impact measured against EU FCH JU founding objectives
FCH JU Objective Relevance for project activities
(HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW) Project activities
contribution in reaching a specific Programme Objective
Reduce the production cost of fuel cell systems to be used in transport applications, while increasing their lifetime to levels which can compete with conventional technologies LOW Not applicable, as the ALKAMMONIA impact is in the stationary, and potentially portable, sector.
Increase the electrical efficiency and the durability of the different fuel cells used for power production to levels
which can compete with conventional technologies, while reducing costs HIGH Stack development as part of this project has addressed
both increased electrical efficiency and durability of
alkaline fuel cells.
Increase the energy efficiency of production of hydrogen mainly from water electrolysis and renewable sources
while reducing operating and capital costs, so that the combined system of the hydrogen production and the
conversion using the fuel cell system can compete with the alternatives for electricity production available on the
market MEDIUM By achieving a high efficiency for the NH3 Cracker,
compared to commercially available solutions, and the
forecast use of FC Stack H2 tail-gas, H2 production via
cracked NH3 can be reduced significantly. PSI analysis on
the subject confirms these findings.
Demonstrate on a large scale the feasibility of using hydrogen to support integration of renewable energy sources into the energy systems, including through its use as a competitive energy storage medium for
electricity produced from renewable energy sources MEDIUM Energy storage, albeit in the form of ammonia, not
hydrogen, is being investigated as the next step for
commercialisation of the ALKAMMONIA integrated
system.
Reduce the use of the EU defined ‘Critical raw materials’, for instance through low-platinum or platinum-free
resources and through recycling or reducing or avoiding the use of rare earth elements MEDIUM Electrode development activities have significantly
reduced all PGM (Platinum Group Metals) used in the
project fuel cell stacks.
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE BODY OF FUEL CELL SYSTEMS KNOWLEDGE
Scientific knowledge has also been greatly enhanced by the project. Subject matters that the project has had a meaningful impact on include key issues such as:
➢ Understanding the effect of ammonia contamination on AFC operation at lab scale and industrial scale, both with Pt and non Pt catalysts;
➢ Regulatory compliance and safety considerations for ammonia fuelled alkaline fuel deployment at large-scale;
➢ Environmental impact analysis, to a limited extent and as part of regulatory requirements, which has increased the visibility of potential environmental effects for ammonia fuelled alkaline fuel cell system deployment;
➢ Understanding of ammonia cracking process → including catalyst and material selection investigations;
➢ Evaluation of the cost and environmental impact of alkaline fuel cell implementation in their entire product life-cycle and comparison to other technologies;
➢ Establishment of risk and safety hazards inherent to a technology such as fuel cells using a flammable gas, such as hydrogen and ammonia, has been compared to several alternatives and analysed by phase of lifecycle, effectively from ‘cradle-to-grave’;
➢ Development of control methodology to integrate ammonia cracking technology with a fuel cell system; and
➢ Methods to increase alkaline fuel cell stack and system efficiency to ensure optimal utilisation of ammonia fuel.
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT
This project’s Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) quantifies the environmental burdens and health effects of different Alkammonia system sizes over the whole life cycle. All inputs of materials, energy, transportation and services and all waste or emission inputs have been quantified and translated into environmental impacts.
Detailed LCI datasets of the prototype and the 10kW Alkammonia system were set up, and inputs for extrapolations toward the 40kW and 150kW system were provided by the project partners. The 10kW system was specified for both a second-of-a kind (SOAK) and an n-th of a kind (NOAK) generation, while estimates for the two larger systems are NOAK.
The goal of this LCA subtask was to quantify environmental impacts and burdens associated with the Alkammonia fuel cell system. This goal was reached by applying the ReCiPe Midpoint (H) impact categories, two ReCiPe Endpoint (H) categories, minerals and metals depletion factors as well as a cumulative energy demand calculation on the collected LCI data.
System adverse effects can be decreased by using ammonia from renewable sources, by implementing a sound recycling system of the platinum-group metals, and by recycling of other used metals. The Alkammonia system is already on a good trajectory regarding the latter, as several system components are being reused at least 10 times, which leads to decrease materials and metals use.
Choosing less carbon intensive ammonia sources decreases the 10 kW NOAK climate change load from 1.4 kg CO2eq/kWh to around 0.3 kg CO2eq/kWh (see Figure 1), which finally would make the ALKAMMONIA system a viable electricity producing technology.
Figure 1: Effect of changing ammonia production pathway in total climate change impacts of the 10 kW NOAK system.
The most important parameters for good performance of the Alkammonia system are the efficiencies of the cells and the fuel supply and use, as could be shown in a sensitivity analysis as presented in Figure 2.
Figure 2: Sensitivity analysis on the climate change indicator for chosen system parameters using the 10 kW NOAK system as base case. Numbers in brackets show the values of the base case, which are set to 1.
Additional work, not detailed here, shows the performance of the Alkammonia system compared to competitive off-grid powering systems.
SOCIO-ECONOMIC BENEFITS AND WIDER SOCIETAL IMPLICATIONS
AFC Energy, founded in 2006, have been developing alkaline fuel cell systems for industrial deployment for over a decade. On large-scale installations and deployment for the chemical and industrial gases sector, another EU FCH JU co-funded project, POWER-UP, helped AFCEN achieve key development targets. ALKAMMONIA has helped address AFCEN’s targets for small- to mid- scale deployment of alkaline fuel cell systems in what is currently the diesel generator/ temporary power market, such as powering of BTS as well as other off-grid or edge-of-grid applications. As the two projects have been worked on largely in parallel, synergies have been made possible, as was sharing of mutual learnings across the organisation on AFCEN’s alkaline fuel cell (AFC) technology, which lies at the heart of both projects.
The ALKAMMONIA project proposal preparation actually dates back to as early as 2012, with the culmination of efforts taking place formally by mid- 2018, though informally, i.e. without further EU funding, the project has since progressed the principal technologies employed, including ZBT’s NH3 cracker system. In the intervening years since 2012, and the project formal start in 2013, long-term socio-economic patterns and market demand is clearly manifesting for decentralised power generation. In this case a flexible (i.e. load-following and peaking) approach is needed, which can also help address the grid management challenges arising from the last two decades’ worth of widespread adoption of non-baseload renewable energy sources, such as wind or solar energy.
In a multi-annual, exhaustive analysis, conducted by the prestigious Paul Scherrer Institute of Switzerland, who are also a project partner, a clear business case is made for the deployment of alkaline fuel cells in diverse applications, as identified above.
ALKAMMONIA has thus begun to open up the potential for significant diesel generator displacement opportunities.
The learning from the project has underpinned the development of AFCEN’s products for both the EV Charging and Temporary Power markets. AFCEN launched its EV charger to the market in early 2020 in response to the need for vehicle charging in areas with minimal grid coverage or places where reinforcement costs would be excessive, with the system able to accept ammonia as its feedstock. In addition, AFCEN also announced a strategic collaboration with ACCIONA in June 2020 to support the leading constructors’ strategy to decarbonise its development sites in Europe, with AFCEN’s work with them in 2021 evaluating both hydrogen and ammonia as fuel sources to support comparative fuel evaluation in a real-world construction environment.
AFCEN’s future markets also recognise the importance of ammonia as a fuel. Stringent emissions targets have been set in the Maritime industry, with the IMO GHG Strategy committing the sector to reducing emissions of greenhouse gases from shipping by at least 50% by 2050 compared to 2008. The IMO also believes that a sizeable proportion of decarbonisation efforts will come as a result of using ammonia as a fuel, influencing AFCEN’s decision to partner with Ricardo plc to develop innovative new products that utilise high-energy dense green ammonia fuel.
A full assessment of AFCEN’s development progress can be found here:
https://15xe332febdf3nmjvi2x5uu6-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/AFC-Energy-Annual-Report-2020.pdf
Finally, another indication that the project scope of work has been defined appropriately, with the maximum benefit to not only AFC technology, but also the broader green hydrogen and renewable energy economy, are competing alternatives that have been ‘cropping up’ recently. This demonstrates that the fundamental business case and model for growth is there, as emulated by alternative technical solutions.
In summary, and paraphrasing Jorgo Chatzimarkakis, Secretary General of Hydrogen Europe, it is not only Hydrogen, but Ammonia also, that can provide a meaningful answer to Today’s “Climate Megatrends”, i.e. the challenges of RES integration, sectoral integration, energy efficiency, decarbonisation, digitalisation, decentralisation and the circular economy.
MAIN DISSEMINATION ACTIVITIES AND EXPLOITATION OF RESULTS
Where possible, the Consortium partners further increased the impact of the project by sharing the project results in scientific papers and conferences and by running workshops for interested parties. However, due to the inherently confidential nature of a large part of the data, information and reports garnered from this project, the scope for communication and dissemination of said results has been moderated somewhat.
Additionally, whether via the project website, newsletter releases, participation in exhibitions and fairs and interacting directly with interested stakeholders, the project and its results at any given time have been communicated to non-academic audiences as well.
During the execution of work package seven in particular, the Consortium has striven to ensure that the project was communicated to as wide an audience as possible with the resources available.
This continued into the post-funding period, with attendance in key events and further updates of the project website, showing the impact the project has had and evincing the commitment of the project partners to capitalise on the advancement of knowledge achieved within ALKAMMONIA.
The detailed list of the activities promoting dissemination and communication of the project successes is reported further along in this report. The communication and dissemination of the project results have thus assisted in the capitalisation and exploitation of the numerous ALKAMMONIA results.
List of Websites:
The ALKAMMONIA project website can be found under the link:
http://alkammonia.eu/
Coordinator organisation contact details:
AFC ENERGY PLC,
Unit 71.4 Dunsfold Park, Stovolds Hill
Cranleigh, Surrey
GU6 8TB
Tel.: +44 (0) 1483 276 726
Website: http://www.afcenergy.com/
Partner organisation contact details:
UNIVERSITÄT DUISBURG-ESSEN,
https://www.uni-due.de/en/
ZENTRUM FÜR BRENNSTOFFZELLENTECHNIK ZBT GMBH,
http://www.zbt-duisburg.de/
FUEL CELL SYSTEMS LTD,
https://www.fuelcellsystems.co.uk/
PAUL SCHERRER INSTITUTE,
https://www.psi.ch/
EUROPEAN HYDROGEN ASSOCIATION - FEDERATION OF THE SCIENTIFIC AND TECHNICAL ASSOCIATIONS,
http://www.h2euro.org/