Julich

Jülich (www.fz-juelich.de) is one of the leading research institutions in Germany with approx. 5000 employees. Energy technology is one of the main research topics with an involvement of approx. 400 person-years. Protection of the environment and of natural resources, economy and safety are among the prime research goals. 

The SOFC group at JÜLICH is one of the world largest and has produced a number of world record breaking achievements in the past years. Stacks of the planar SOFC design were built up to a size of approx. 15 kW, high performances achieved with advanced cathode materials, stacks successfully delivered to other research institutions and operated in SOFC systems under atmospheric and pressurised conditions. Recently an SOFC short stack has reached 60000 h operating time under constant current mode with low degradation rate of 0.7%/kh. Another short stack, which has better protective coating on the interconnect, has also more than 30000 h operation with even lower degradation rate of 0.3%/kh. Both stacks are still under operation. In 2012 JÜLICH has started the operation of a 20 kW system, built out of four 5 kW stacks. The system was operated for more than 4000 h. Over the past 20 years JÜLICH has been involved in several national programmes on SOFC co-operating with industries like Siemens and BMW as well as in several European projects cooperating with research centres (ECN, Risø National Laboratory, VTT, CEA, etc.) and industries (Haldor Topsoe, H.C.Starck, Wärtsilä, Sulzer Hexis, Rolls Royce Fuel Cell Systems, ElringKlinger, etc.). Under the 6th Framework Programme, JÜLICH was the co-ordinator of the Integrated Project Real-SOFC and the STRP GenFC as well as being a partner in various other IP, as for instance SOFC600, and networks as FCTestNet, SOFCNet and FCTestQA. Within the FCH JU framework JÜLICH has coordinated the cooperative project SOFC-Life as well as two Support Actions, TrainHy and FC-EuroGrid. 

There are currently 15 test benches for SOFC/SOEC stacks in IEK-3 at Forschungszentrum Jülich. Another three are under construction, and will be delivered by the beginning of 2015. SOFC stacks up to 7 kW with or without insulation housing can be tested under different modes (e.g. stationary operation or thermal cycling, with or without furnace, etc.). Operation with humidified hydrogen or simulated reformate is possible. Among all 18 test benches, considering the requirements on stack size and testing conditions, five of them are possible for the long term tests in INNO-SOFC, whereof two are suitable for operation without furnace. All the five test benches are no more than three years old, and are equipped with state-of-the-art controlling and monitoring system, which secures a stable testing environment during long term operations and reduces the risk of stack failure caused by unexpected interruptions to minimum. 

Within this project the Centre of Energy and Climate Research (IEK) contributes its experience in the field of long term stack testing. Besides the SOFC research, JÜLICH also hosts an equally large group working on low temperature fuel cells (DMFC and HT-PEFC), on fuel reforming, hydrogen production and systems analysis.