Hydrocarbon gas production as it has one great advantage over comparative storage options: it readily integrates with the existing natural gas networks and storage facilities. The comprehensive natural gas network also makes it a system of transport for bringing power from production to consumption areas.
This can be achieved with the help of solid oxide electrolysis cells wherein excess renewable energy from wind can be converted into methane.
This PhD project aims
1. to improve the efficiency of the solid oxide electrolysis cells with emphasis on refining the fuel electrode structure and improve the oxygen electrode
2. to prove the achievements with the help of electrochemical characterization as well as imaging and structural analysis.
3. to assess the performance and durability under relevant co-electrolysis in order to gain understanding of the underlying reaction mechanisms.
The novelty of the project lies in obtaining improved SOECs and in investigating SOECs under realistic operation conditions that include co-electrolysis, dynamic operation, and high pressure operation.
Source: C. Graves, J.V.T. Høgh, K. Agersted, X. Sun, M. Chen et al., July 2014, Department of Energy
Conversion & Storage, Technical University of Denmark, DK ForskEL-project 2013-1-12013, internal
report.
This project will contribute to realize a system based on renewable energy sources with solid oxide electrolysis cell as the major component. This will also lead to innovation in the field of different configurations and will serve as a pilot case for electricity to hydrocarbon processing using SOECs.
This PhD project is funded by European Union’s Horizon 2020 framework program (H2020) for the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Technology Initiative under grant agreement no. 699892 (“Efficient Co-Electrolyser for Efficient Renewable Energy Storage-ECo”).