There is no reason to believe that development is not ongoing...
New patents grated so far this year:
Utility Binder for electrolyte matrix for molten carbonate fuel cells 30 Aug 22 A binder solution for an electrolyte matrix for use with molten carbonate fuel cells is provided. Arun Surendranath, Abdelkader Hilmi, Chao-Yi Yuh Filed: 12 Apr 17
Utility Low pressure carbon dioxide removal from the anode exhaust of a fuel cell 23 Aug 22 A fuel cell system for removing carbon dioxide from anode exhaust gas includes: a fuel cell having an anode configured to output an anode exhaust gas comprising hydrogen, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and water; an anode gas oxidizer; and an absorption system configured to receive the anode exhaust gas, the absorption system including: an absorber column configured to absorb the carbon dioxide from the anode exhaust gas in a solvent and to output a resultant gas comprising hydrogen and a hydrocarbon that is at least partially recycled to the anode; and a stripper column configured to regenerate the solvent and to output a carbon dioxide-rich stream. Fred C. Jahnke, Matthew A. Lambrech Filed: 1 Sep 20
Utility Elevated pressure operation of molten carbonate fuel cells with enhanced CO2 utilization 23 Aug 22 Molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) are operated at elevated pressure to provide increased operating voltage and/or enhanced CO2 utilization with a cathode input stream having a low CO2 content. Jonathan Rosen, Eric B. Shen, Timothy C. Geary Filed: 26 Nov 19
Utility Flow Baffle for Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell 11 Aug 22 Molten carbonate fuel cell configurations are provided that allow for introduction of an anode input gas flow on a side of the fuel cell that is adjacent to the entry side for the cathode input gas flow while allowing the anode and cathode to operate under co-current flow and/or counter-current flow conditions. Christopher Howard, Brandon J. O'Neill, Paul J. Rubas, Frank Hershkowitz, Lu Han, Lawrence J. Novacco, Frank J. Dobek, Keith David, Brian Bullecks Filed: 11 Feb 21
Utility Fluidized Catalytic Cracking Unit System with Integrated Reformer-electrolyzer-purifier 4 Aug 22 A fluidized catalytic cracking unit system includes: a fluidized catalytic cracking unit assembly including a first catalyst regenerator and a cracking unit, the cracking unit configured to output spent catalyst to the first catalyst regenerator; and a reformer-electrolyzer-purifier assembly comprising a reformer-electrolyzer-purifier cell, the reformer-electrolyzer-purifier cell comprising an anode section and a cathode section. Fred C. JAHNKE Filed: 22 Apr 22
Utility Solid Oxide Fuel Cell System with Carbon Capture and Increased Efficiency 4 Aug 22 A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell module having an inlet and an outlet. Casy Cloudless BROWN Filed: 3 Dec 21
Utility Edge leveler with offset rollers 2 Aug 22 An edge leveler for leveling an edge of a plate includes a first frame, a plurality of first rollers rotatably mounted along the first frame; a second frame, and a plurality of second rollers rotatably mounted along the second frame. Benjamin Aldrich, Carson Payne, Steve Rulli, Marc Gizzie, Steve Ayres Filed: 9 Sep 19
Utility High Efficiency Humidity Management System for Fuel Cells and Higher-temperature Electrochemical Systems 28 Jul 22 A humidity transfer assembly includes a pressure vessel and a humidity transfer device disposed in the pressure vessel. Pinakin PATEL, Jonathan MALWITZ, Ludwig LIPP, Jesse ROY Filed: 28 Feb 22
Utility In-situ monitoring of flue gas contaminants for fuel cell systems 14 Jun 22 A power production system includes a fuel cell separation system configured to receive a flue gas and to produce electrical power therefrom; a flue gas polishing system positioned upstream of the fuel cell separation system and configured to remove contaminants in the flue gas; a flue gas analyzer configured to measure in real-time an amount of the contaminants in the flue gas; and a plant control system operatively coupled to the flue gas polishing system, the flue gas analyzer, and the fuel cell separation system and configured to adjust operational parameters of the flue gas polishing system. Hossein Ghezel-Ayagh, Stephen Jolly Filed: 21 Apr 17
Utility Operation of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells with High Electrolyte Fill Level 2 Jun 22 An elevated target amount of electrolyte is used to initially fill a molten carbonate fuel cell that is operated under carbon capture conditions. Jonathan Rosen, Heather A. Elsen, Gabor Kiss, William A. Lamberti, William C. Horn, Anding Zhang, Timothy C. Geary, Adam Franco, Abdelkader Hilmi Filed: 22 Feb 22
Utility Fluidized catalytic cracking unit system with integrated reformer-electrolyzer-purifier 24 May 22 A fluidized catalytic cracking unit system includes a fluidized catalytic cracking unit assembly comprising a cracking unit; a reformer-electrolyzer-purifier assembly comprising a reformer-electrolyzer-purifier cell, the reformer-electrolyzer-purifier cell comprising an anode section and a cathode section; and a carbon capture assembly. Fred C. Jahnke Filed: 19 Apr 17
Utility Selectively rotated flow field for thermal management in a fuel cell stack 17 May 22 An electrochemical cell stack comprises a plurality of electrochemical cell units, each comprising a cathode, an anode, and an electrolyte, and also comprises a plurality of interconnects. Casy Cloudless Brown, Khun Bong Luc Filed: 19 Dec 19
Utility Operation of molten carbonate fuel cells with high electrolyte fill level 17 May 22 An elevated target amount of electrolyte is used to initially fill a molten carbonate fuel cell that is operated under carbon capture conditions. Jonathan Rosen, Heather A. Elsen, Gabor Kiss, William A. Lamberti, William C. Horn, Anding Zhang, Timothy C. Geary, Adam Franco, Abdelkader Hilmi Filed: 26 Nov 19
Utility Energy Storage for Combustion Turbine Using Molten Carbonate Electrolyzer Cell 12 May 22 An energy storage system includes: a reformer configured to receive natural gas and steam and to output reformed natural gas; a combustion turbine configured to output heated sweep gas; and a molten carbonate electrolyzer cell (“MCEC”) including: an MCEC anode, and an MCEC cathode configured to receive the heated sweep gas from the combustion turbine. Fred C. JAHNKE Filed: 24 Jan 22
Utility High efficiency fuel cell system with hydrogen and syngas export 19 Apr 22 A fuel cell system includes at least one topping fuel cell module including a topping anode portion configured to output a topping anode exhaust, and a topping cathode portion configured to output a topping cathode exhaust; at least one bottoming fuel cell module including a bottoming anode portion configured to output a bottoming anode exhaust, and a bottoming cathode portion configured to output a bottoming cathode exhaust; and an electrochemical hydrogen separation unit configured to receive at least a portion of the topping anode exhaust, to output a hydrogen-rich stream, and to output a CO2-rich stream. Ramakrishnan Venkataraman, Mohammad Farooque Filed: 20 Apr 17
Utility Humidity transfer assemblies for fuel cells and higher-temperature electrochemical systems 5 Apr 22 A humidity transfer assembly includes a pressure vessel and a humidity transfer device disposed in the pressure vessel. Pinakin Patel, Jonathan Malwitz, Ludwig Lipp, Jesse Roy Filed: 29 Aug 19 Utility Carbon Dioxide Production from Carbonate Fuel Cells 17 Mar 22 A fuel cell system includes a fuel cell stack having a plurality of fuel cells that each contain a plurality of fuel electrodes and air electrodes. Anthony Leo, Stephen Jolly, James Kim Filed: 15 Sep 21
Utility Ceramic felt material for high-temperature fuel cells 15 Mar 22 An inorganic felt material includes zirconia stabilized by at least one Group IIA material, such that the Group IIA material includes at least one of calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), or a combination thereof. Matthew T. Snider, Chao-yi Yuh Filed: 13 Jun 18 Utility Energy storage for combustion turbine using molten carbonate electrolyzer cell 1 Mar 22 An energy storage system includes: a combustion turbine configured to output heated sweep gas; a reformer configured to receive natural gas and steam and to output reformed natural gas; a molten carbonate electrolyzer cell (“MCEC”) comprising an MCEC anode and an MCEC cathode, wherein the MCEC is configured to operate in a hydrogen-generation mode in which: the MCEC anode receives the reformed natural gas from the reformer, and outputs MCEC anode exhaust that contains hydrogen, and the MCEC cathode is configured to receive heated sweep gas from the combustion turbine, and to output MCEC cathode exhaust; and a storage tank configured to receive the MCEC anode exhaust that contains hydrogen. Fred C. Jahnke Filed: 9 Aug 21
Utility Two-phase water cooling in an electrochemical hydrogen separator 1 Mar 22 A cooling plate assembly includes an anode half-plate having an anode upper surface and an opposing anode lower surface, and a cathode half-plate having a cathode upper surface and an opposing cathode lower surface, the cathode lower surface configured to engage the anode upper surface. Pinakin Patel, Jonathan Malwitz, Ray Kopp, Ludwig
Utility Heat Exchanger with Porous Material 3 Feb 22 A method for manufacturing a heat exchanger includes: providing a porous material that has a porosity of about 30% to about 80%; forming an oxide layer on a surface of the porous material by heat treating the porous material at a temperature in a range of 600° C. to 900° C. for a time period in a range of 8 hours to 12 hours in air; and integrating the porous material into a cold side flow passage of the heat exchanger. Matthew LAMBRECH, Joseph M. DALY, Andrew SKOK, Kazim NAQVI, Dennis FARRENKOPF, Ling CHEN, Allen ADRIANI Filed: 18 Oct 21