The environmental impact of manufacturing planar and tubular solid oxide fuel cells

This paper examines the environmental impact of manufacturing two types of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system. The tubular SOFC (based on a 100 kW Si emens-Westinghouse design), and the planar SOFC (based on a 1 kW Sulzer des ign). Using different levels of detail, the environmental impact of the man ufacture of the PEN and interconnect, the balance of plant and the producti on of precursor materials has been assessed for both systems. The results d emonstrate that the production and supply of materials for the manufacture of both the balance of plant and the fuel cell are responsible for a signif icant share of the overall environmental burden associated with each of the fuel cell systems studied. Nonetheless, the total emissions associated wit h the manufacturing stage still only contribute an additional 1% to lifetim e CO2 emissions for both fuel cell types. The relative contribution arising from the manufacturing phase to several other regulated pollutants is high , but this reflects the low levels associated with the SOFC in use phase, r ather than indicating a significant burden arising from manufacture. It is proposed that end-of-life reuse or recycling could play a key role in furth er reducing environmental burdens. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All right s reserved.