Panasonic, Tokuyama start hydrogen fuel cell generators demos
Tokuyama and Panasonic efforts towards realising a hydrogen-based society will be further strengthened through the demonstration project.
Panasonic Corporation and Tokuyama Corporation today (14th September) said to have started demonstration work on pure hydrogen fuel cell generators in Tokuyama Factory in Shunan City, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan.
The fuel cell generators will use by-product hydrogen generated in the Tokuyama factory during caustic soda production. The hydrogen is produced during the caustic soda production through brine electrolysis by an ion-exchange membrane process. The power produced through demonstration equipment will be used in the factory, and the generated heat will be used for hot water.
Equipment such as hydrogen supply piping, thermal piping, and power output lines have already been installed in the site configured into a system incorporating six pure hydrogen fuel cell generators, developed by Panasonic, into one unit. Each of which can generate 700 W of electricity.
This is the first demonstration in Japan of the integrated control of six pure hydrogen fuel cell generators. The demonstration period will end in March 2023.
Panasonic will verify and evaluate the integrated control of the system as well as its operating performance when by-product hydrogen is used. The on-off operation of the system’s six generator units is individually controlled. The system allows a flexible power output setting ranging from 700 W to 4.2 kW. In case of an issue with one generator, the other five remaining generators can continue to operate, helping to continuously supply power if maintenance is sequentially performed on individual generators.
