Voltachem – Towards industrial-scale Solid Oxide Electrolyzers: TNO achieves increase in cell size by up to 5 times.
The Solid Oxide Electrolysis (SOE) team at TNO has made an important step towards the application of the technology in an industrial environment by realizing the fabrication and testing of solid oxide cells with a cell size 4 to 5 times larger than the current industry standards.
Industrial scale
An important requirement for the integration of green hydrogen in the industrial environment is its large scale availability. The solid oxide electrolysis technology holds great promise for the production of hydrogen on an industrial scale.
However, one of the critical steps in realizing the application potential of the SOE technology is increasing the solid oxide cell (and therefore, the stack) size. This will contribute to reducing the complexity of a SOE system, thereby allowing for a potential decrease in the system costs.
Increased cell size
TNO manufactures solid oxide cells with very thin electrolyte layers (3-5 microns), supported by a thicker electrode (300-500 microns). This guarantees high mechanical integrity. These cells are made by using a manufacturing process in which heat treatment at very high temperatures (>1300oC) is required.
This heat treatment can lead to cell breakage and therefore a low manufacturing yield when the cell size is increased. TNO has optimized the cell production method by working on the heat treatment process, allowing the production of solid oxide cells with dimensions of 30 cm x 30 cm . This results in an increase in cell size by a factor of 4-5.
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Towards industrial-scale Solid Oxide Electrolyzers: TNO achieves increase in cell size by up to 5 times, July 1, 2022
