JOHANNESBURG (miningweekly.com) – Energy solutions provider Mitochondria Energy Company (MEC) will unveil a 100 kW fuel-cell solution, which was installed at the Chamber of Mines’ (CoM’s) Johannesburg offices, later this month.
MEC CEO Anthea Bath told Mining Weekly Online that the natural gas-fuelled solution had been designed to supply between 30 kWh and 80 kWh of electricity, depending on periods of low or high demand at the CoM. Egoli Gas had been contracted to supply the natural gas for the fuel-cell solution.
The system generated enough electricity to keep the building running in the event of load-shedding.
Bath pointed out that the onsite fuel-cell solution, which was designed by MEC, JSE-listed Allied Electronics subsidiary Powertech and independent consultant Ralph Jones, had taken ten days to install and commission.
Powertech had also been the engineering, procurement and management contractor on the project.
Jones was responsible for the design of the desulphurisation plant, which was developed as a preventative measure to remove any sulphur compounds, which could damage the platinum catalyst, from the natural gas before being fed into the fuel cell, which contained the platinum-based technology that converts hydrocarbons and oxygen into electricity and water. Bath noted that, since the December commissioning of the unit, no sulphur breakthrough had been detected from the plant.
Japanese electrical solutions provider Fuji Electric had manufactured the 5.6m x 2.2m x 3.4m fuel cell.
Bath highlighted that fuel-cell technology offered an alternative energy source at prices lower than current grid-based electricity costs for commercial, industrial and building users.
MEC would also, during the CoM fuel-cell solution unveiling, launch a miniature 5 kWh fuel-cell system, which Bath said would be used to power the sound and projectors at the March 31 event.