POWER December 2012 - 11

Largest Wastewater
Treatment Fuel Cell Plant
Goes Online
In October, Canadian biogas power producer
Anaergia opened a 2.8-MW fuel cell system
powered by cleaned and conditioned
wastewater biosolids at a municipal water
treatment facility in Ontario, Calif. The
RP-1 Water Recycling Facility treats up to
44 million gallons a day of wastewater,
and the new renewable energy facility installed
onsite will offset about 60% of the
grid power previously used by the facility
to treat wastewater, Anaergia said.
Power from the DFC3000 stationary fuel
cell power plant recently purchased from
FuelCell Energy is being sold to the wastewater
treatment facility's owner, Inland
Empire Utilities Agency (IEUA), a municipal
water district located in western San
Bernardino County, under a 20-year power
purchase agreement. Environmental rules
prohibit the utility from releasing methanerich
biogas generated by the wastewater
treatment process directly into the atmosphere.
Because flaring the gas emits pollutants,
IEUA has been using digester gas
to provide a fuel for cogeneration engines
that provide energy to other processes
within the facility.
The fuel cell plant requires only " minimal
cleaning " of the biogas, says its manufacturer
FuelCell Energy. Biogas " contains
humidity, sulfur and CO2
. Prior to being
used as a fuel source for the Direct FuelCell,
the humidity and sulfur must be removed,
but the DFC technology does not
require the removal of the CO2
removed prior to being injected
. This is a
cost advantage as pipeline quality biogas,
also termed 'directed biogas,' must have
the CO2
2. Fuel cell frenzy. A 60-MW fuel cell
park (shown in this rendering) is under development
by POSCO Energy along with
partners Korea Hydro Nuclear Power Co. and
Samchully Gas Co. The fuel cell park will consist
of a series of FuelCell Energy DFC3000
power plants located in an industrial complex
in Whasung City. Electricity generated by the
fuel cells starting in 2013 will be supplied to
the grid and assists the partners with compliance
under the South Korean Renewable Portfolio
Standard. Courtesy: FuelCell Energy
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in the gas pipeline, which is an energyintensive
process and adds cost. "
Essentially, the fuel cell plant uses an
electrochemical process to efficiently generate
electricity and heat suitable for generating
steam. According to FuelCell Energy, fuel
cells are " highly efficient " and can achieve
efficiencies up to 90% when byproduct heat
is utilized. " The byproduct heat from this
power plant will be used to help create the
renewable biogas by heating the anaerobic
digesters that produce the biogas. High
efficiency decreases energy costs and provides
more electrical output from the same
amount of biogas than less efficient alternatives, "
the company says.
The IEUA lauds the project as a major
development that will bring it closer to its
goal of going " Gridless by 2020, " allowing
it to operate completely off the grid during
peak energy usage periods.
A renewable mode of generation promoted
less fiercely than solar, wind, and hydro,
fuel cell power plants have been gathering
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POWER December 2012

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