Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, CA 94550

A -- LAWRENCE LIVERMORE NATIONAL LABORATORY SEEKING PARTNERSHIPS WITH INDUSTRY TO DEVELOP AND COMMERCIALIZE HIGH POWER DENSITY SOLID OXIDE FUEL CELLS FABRICATED USING LOW-COST MANUFACTURING TECHNOLOGY SOL 00-025/262 DUE 060500 POC Industrial Partnerships and Commercialization (925)423-3139 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Seeking Partnerships with Industry to Develop and Commercialize High Power Density Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Fabricated Using Low-Cost Manufacturing Technology Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), operated by the University of California under contract with the U. S. Department of Energy (DOE), is seeking industrial partners to further develop and commercialize high power density solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) fabricated using a low-cost manufacturing technology based upon colloidal processing (patent pending). LLNL has obtained world-record power density for single cells with a symmetrical design. Power densities as high as 1400 mW/cm2 at 800oC and 900 mW/cm2 at 700oC have been obtained. Because SOFCs can have high efficiencies, they have very low emissions of greenhouse gases relative to other power sources. This makes SOFCs one of the more promising clean energy technologies for distributed, reliable power for the 21st century. Transportation applications also appear to be very promising. The LLNL SOFC is based on the efficient planar stack concept, which is an alternative to the tubular design. It is to be noted that claims for power densities greater than 1000 mW/cm2 have appeared in the literature for single cell measurements. However, these measurements were obtained on cells having non-symmetrical designs (that is, either the anode or the cathode was much larger than the other, with the power density normalized to the smaller electrode). As such, the previous results are not scalable to a fuel cell stack, and power densities lower than 1000 mW/cm2 for practical systems should be expected. In contrast, since the LLNL results were obtained using a symmetrical cell design similar exceptionally high power densities can be expected for fuel cell stacks. Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has used its proprietary manufacturing technology to fabricate the SOFC structures. In addition, a unique optimized materials design has been utilized to obtain the extremely high power densities. Using the LLNL manufacturing technology and cell design concept it has been possible to fabricate fuel cells operating at lower temperature. In preliminary results, LLNL researchers have obtained respectable power densities as high as 490 and 250 mW/cm2 at temperatures as low as 650 and 600oC, respectively. This result makes the concept of a staged (graded temperature) fuel cell possible. Such a system is predicted to have efficiency as high as 70%. In addition, lower fuel cell operating temperatures also permit the use of less expensive materials, lowering the overall fuel cell cost even further. Further improvements in power density in the 600-800oC operating range is anticipated. The LLNL researchers are currently concentrating on the development of a low power 50 W stack. This work is being supported by Laboratory Directed Research and Development funds. LLNL is seeking corporate partners interested in licensing the technology and commercializing the high power density SOFC technology. Note: THIS IS NOT A PROCUREMENT. If you are interested in licensing high power density fuel cell manufacturing technology and working with LLNL on fuel cell development or commercialization, please respond in writing within 45 days of this announcement. Responses should indicate areas of interest, a brief description of the entity's capabilities to utilize the technology, and indicate whether your entity is foreign-owned. Please send this information to Industrial Partnerships and Commercialization Office, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Attention: CBD#00-025/262, P.O. Box 808, L-795, Livermore, CA 94551. This is not a procurement. Posted 04/19/00 (W-SN446811). (0110)

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