MechChem Africa March 2017

MechChem Africa

•

March 2017

n February 7, 2017, platinum

group metals producer, Implats,

announced its intention to take

its Impala Platinum Refinery off

the Eskom grid, initially with the installation

of an 8.0 MWDoosan fuel cell bank.

The project is already at an advanced

development stage with Doosan Fuel Cell

America (Doosan) as the technology partner;

an agreement imminentwith an international

equity partner being advised by Fieldstone;

andPentaquarkEnergy, adecentralisedener-

gy anddistributedenergy solutions specialist,

about to come on board as strategic partner.

“The project will be funded on a limited

recourse finance basis with financial close

aimed at meeting commercial operations by

January 2018,” says Zahed Sibda, managing

director of Fieldstone Africa.

Implats has also negotiated the

natural gas supply to

the fa-

cility with Springs Light Gas, a leading sup-

plier of piped natural gas in southern Africa.

Says Nkosinathi Solomon, CEO of Springs

Light Gas: “We are excited to partner with

Implats on this strategic initiative of national

economic significance.”

Phase one of the project involves the in-

stallation of 20 Doosan fuel cells generating

around 400 kW each to provide 8.0 MW of

power, mooted to be operational by mid-

2017. But the long-termgoal is to install three

or four of these power banks to supply the 22

and 30MWof power needed by the refinery.

“Doosan is excited to be a part of the

clean energy evolution in South Africa with

its PureCell Model 400 combined heat

and power solution,” says Eric Strayer, vice

president of international sales for Doosan.

He says that South Africa is embracing new

ways to solve their energy challenges. “By

deploying fuel cells as a decentralised, clean

energygeneration solution, the country could

become the prototype for the future of en-

ergy production,” he suggests.

Fuel cells, greener genset

and

FCEVs

The scalable Doosan

PureCell

400 can generate up to

440 kW of clean electricity when new, reducing to

400 kW after 10 years of use.

Above:

The PureCell is designed to be powered by natural gas rather than

hydrogen. The gas (CH

) is ‘cracked’ to provide the hydrogen needed to fuel the

cell.

Right:

Doosan fuel cells use phosphoric acid (H

) as the electrolyte,

saturated in a silicon carbide matrix (SiC). The electrodes are made of carbon

paper coated with a finely dispersed platinum catalyst.

Implats has established a fuel cell project with the ultimate aim of taking its Impala

Platinum Refinery off the Eskom grid.

Peter Middleton

takes a look at the expanding

range of applications for fuel cells in a greener economy.

Commenting on the importance of this

project, Fahmida Smith, fuel cell coordina-

tor at Impala Platinum Refinery adds: “The

development of Implats’ 8.0MWfuel cell is an

excitingmove towards amore carbon-neutral

fuel source at its refinery. The technology

generates combined heat and power and will

result in a significant reduction in our costs

over its 20 year life.”

This initiative is part of Implats’ strategic

objective to fast-track local manufactur-

ing of fuel cells and its componentry within

a proposed 16-hectare tributary of the

Special Economic Zone (SEZ) in the Springs

region. The project, in partnership with

the Department of Trade and Industry, the

Gauteng Industrial Development Zone and

supported by the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan

Municipality, is a longer-term strategic in-

vestment to promote platinum beneficiation

within South Africa.

It is also a collaborative effort by var-

ious departments of the South African

Government with ties to strategic local and

internationalpartnershipsthroughtheImpala

Roadmap, which aims to develop fuel cell

technology to drive knowledge-based skills

development and job creation and to increase

foreign direct investment in South Africa.

This strategy envisages partnerships with

international manufacturers and, in time, the

backward integration of local South African

sub-components.

“The Impala Roadmap represents criti-

cal steps in support of the fuel cell industry,

specifically for the development of manu-

facturing capacity in South Africa, where the

predominant supply of the critical platinum

componentry is mined. The opportunities

identified through local manufacturing are

entrenched in the roadmap throughextensive

collaboration between industry, government

and academia in South Africa,” adds Smith.

In the long term, Implats will maintain a

strongemphasisonthedeploymentoffuelcell

technology and energy-efficiency projects.