Title of Innovation: Fuel Cell Powered Cathodic Protection

Transcription

1 Title of Innovation: Fuel Cell Powered Cathodic Protection Category: Cathodic protection Nominee(s): Dr. Norman Bessette CTO and Senior Vice President Acumentrics Corporation 20 Southwest Park Westwood, MA USA Web site: Date of Innovation: March 2012 Full Description: When and how was it developed? Acumentrics has been developing the underlying Solid Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) technology behind the RP20 since 2004 using internal resources and funding as well as development funds provided by several DoE and DoD agencies. When the technology reached satisfactory performance and durability levels in 2009, the first generations of the commercial RP20 were designed, developed and deployed to actual customer sites starting in Pg 1 of 6

2 How does it work, in basic terms? The RP20 fuel cell electrochemically converts the energy from natural gas or propane directly into DC electric power. Its efficiency is up to 20 times higher than the incumbent ThermoElectric based Generators ( TEGs ), resulting in the consumption of significantly less fuel while creating much less waste heat and air pollutants. In fact, the RP20 can help users realize annual fuel savings of up to $3,500 per unit over other power generation sources. The core of the RP20 is a solid state, ceramic, tubular fuel cell. With few moving parts as well as no motor oil, coolant or hydraulic fluids to change or spill the system is easy to install and maintain, requiring only an annual site visit to change air and fuel filters. The system can be remotely monitored and controlled in one of several ways; local Ethernet cable, cellular network or satellite link modems. The RP20 is also scalable and modular, so users can install only as much power as is required, with the option to add more units as load requirements grow. The environmental benefits of the RP20 are significant. By switching from a TEG to the RP20, users can reduce their CO 2 emissions by up to 50 tons/year, the equivalent benefit of removing 10 cars from the road for a year. For this reason, the RP20 is defined as a renewable energy source by the U.S. government and is eligible for significant state and federal tax credits that can be $3,000 per system or more. How or why is the innovation unique? Fuel cell technology has been around for many years, but the Acumentrics RP20 is the first fuel cell based power system which was designed from the ground up to meet the specific needs of corrosion protection customers in the oil and gas industry. What type of corrosion problem does the innovation address? Corrosion protection systems in the oil and gas industry are often deployed in areas where commercial AC power is not economically available. The Acumentrics RP20 is a clean, quiet and reliable DC power source which can enable low maintenance, cost effective corrosion protection at these off grid sites. What is the need that sparked the development of the innovation? For many years the ThermoElectric Generator ( TEG ) was the only feasible option available to power corrosion protection equipment and other loads at remote, off grid oil and gas sites. More recently, corrosion engineers have been searching for a viable alternative to the TEG primarily because of the negative impact of several of its inherent characteristics: Low TEG efficiency, on the order of 1 to 3%, meant a relatively high fuel consumption per watt of power produced The combustion of all of this natural gas in a TEG meant the emission of a significant amount of CO 2 as well NOx and SOx air pollutants The exposed flame of the TEG could pose a fire danger as well as making it susceptible to blow outs from high wind conditions Pg 2 of 6

3 Are there technological challenges or limitations that the innovation overcomes? The inherent high efficiency and low emissions of the fuel cell technology at the heart of the RP20 enable it to overcome the operational limits of TEGs to power corrosion protection equipment in a clean, quiet and reliable manner. What are the potential applications of the innovation? In addition to the primary application of supplying DC power to Impressed Current Cathodic Protection (ICCP) systems, the RP20 is also capable of simultaneously powering additional loads at off grid oil and gas sites including: Impressed Current Cathodic Protection (ICCP) Chemical Injection Pumps SCADA Systems Gas Analyzers & other Instrumentation Remote Control Valves How does the innovation provide an improvement over existing methods, techniques, and technologies? The Acumentrics RP20 provides corrosion protection engineers with a cost effective alternative which is more efficient and cleaner than TEGs and more compact than solar/battery power systems with less overall maintenance requirements. What type of impact does the innovation have on the industry/industries it serves? By providing an efficient, clean and reliable power source for off grid sites, the Acumentrics RP20 should enable corrosion engineers to deploy protection equipment in places that they otherwise may forego. For example, pipeline CP engineers may deploy more ICCP sites at closer intervals than the usual practice of focusing on high power AC/DC rectifiers only at locations where the pipeline crosses a commercial AC power line. This could result in better overall corrosion protection because it avoids the possibility of overpowering the ICCP system with very high current from AC/DC rectifiers which can lead to coating disbonding and potential corrosion of the exposed pipe. Does the innovation fill a technology gap? If so, please explain the technological need and how it was addressed prior to the development of the innovation. As explained above, for many years the ThermoElectric Generator ( TEG ) was the only feasible option available to power corrosion protection equipment and other loads at remote, off grid oil and gas sites. Pg 3 of 6

4 Has the innovation been tested in the laboratory or in the field? If so, please describe any tests or field demonstrations and the results that support the capability and feasibility of the innovation. Since its initial qualification deployments in 2010, the RP20 has been deployed at a range of production well head and pipeline sites in North America. To date the ~70 systems deployed have: Accumulated over 200,000 hours of operation Delivered over 50,000 kwh Achieved an overall average availability of >97% Is the innovation commercially available? If yes, how long has it been utilized? If not, what is the next step in making the innovation commercially available? Yes, the Acumentrics RP20 is commercially available. The RP product line was formally launched at NACE s Corrosion 2012 in Salt Lake City, however, RP20 systems have been successfully deployed at customer sites across North America since 2010 and have been proven to be an excellent option to supply DC power for a variety of off grid corrosion protection applications. In 2013 additional model numbers will be added to the RP family so that customers can chose any of these output power capacities: 250 watt 500 watt 1,000 watt 1,500 watt Are you aware of other organizations that have introduced similar innovations? If so, how is this innovation different? Several companies have developed and deployed solar photovoltaic (PV) based power systems for cathodic protection applications. In recent years, these solutions have had some success and have been deployed in many North American regions in the oil and gas industry. Some of the specific performance and logistical issues with solar CP systems which could be better served by a fuel cell power system solution include: To achieve the power levels required for CP at some sites requires relatively large solar panel arrays. Such configurations not only take up a lot of space, but can also attract unwanted attention at these remote sites; vandalism, theft, etc. Ensuring continuous power can require significant numbers of lead acid batteries and related control and storage enclosure systems. Such battery systems require a significant amount of maintenance, regular battery replacements, etc. Pg 4 of 6

5 Are there any patents related to this work? If yes, please provide the patent title, number, and inventor. The fuel cell technology used within the RP20 is covered by the following Acumentrics owned issued and/or pending patents: US Patents: , , , , , , Canadian Patents: , , Supporting Photos: Fig #1 SOFC Energy Conversion Process & Resulting Fuel Efficiency Fig #2 Two Acumentrics RP20 Fuel Cells Power Cathodic Protection Groundbed and Chemical Injection Pumps at Multi Wellhead Site in the Barnett Shale Region Pg 5 of 6

6 Fig #3 Acumentrics RP20 Fuel Cell Powers Internal Corrosion Protection Chemical Injection Pumps at Multi Wellhead Site in Western Colorado Fig #4 Acumentrics RP20 Fuel Cell Powers Cathodic Protection Groundbed at Multi Wellhead Site in East Texas Pg 6 of 6