Present Status and Future Prospects of Biogas Powered Fuel Cell Power Units

Recently adjustment of laws, development of technologies and business movement have encouraged the transition to a recycling-based society. Biogas energy is being watched with keenest interest as environmentally-friendly, alternative energy source instead of petroleum. It is proposed that biomass energy will be introduced worldwide in large quantities. Particularly for Japan, which lags behind other industrialized nations in the widespread adoption of environmentally-friendly energy sources, the utilization of “biomass from wastes,” such as waste wood, wood chips, sludge, garbage, edible oil waste and animal refuse, represents a promising alternative energy source, which would serve to protect the environment from the symptoms of industrialization, such as global warming. In 1999, Fuji Electric began developing phosphoricacid fuel cell power units using methane fermentation gas from garbage, and to this day, the produced units have been operating successfully. From 2001 to 2002, Fuji Electric produced 100 kW phosphoric-acid fuel cell power units, which use biogas from garbage and digested gas from sewage. This paper presents examples of a methane fermentation facility and a sewage water treatment plant. In addition, an overview of these systems is presented.