Reducing emissions from CHP plants in the healthcare sector: the new fuel cell solution

Today both insiders and non-insiders talk about:

• Efficient processes
• Enhancing the use of renewables
• Decarbonize (H2, biogas, etc.)

What role can CHP play in this new scenario?
And in particular, how can we decline it within hospital facilities?
Can we say that CHP is still an effective tool?

Certainly we can say that cogeneration remains a cost-saving element for those who use it, and therefore it is a solution to be pursued especially at a time when electricity and methane gas prices are high and no longer as stable as they once were.

Today more than before, however, emission issues are an obstacle to this type of solution: NOX, CO, CO2 are issues that we all insiders look at every day.

In this context, even in the healthcare sector, talking about fuel cell cogeneration, hence NOVA by Cefla-the first cogeneration integrating fuel cell technology in Europe-can be a forward-looking solution. Fuel cells are a system for generating electricity through a chemical reaction.

The reaction also generates heat that can be easily recovered for integration into production processes.
Since no combustion takes place, pollutant emissions (NOX, CO, SOX) are reduced to zero.

The chemical reaction takes place using hydrogen and oxygen, so the technology already looks forward to the future as a hydrogen user.

In fact, today hydrogen is obtained from methane, but the cell can already work in hydrogen-methane blend as well. One of the peculiarities is that there is no loss of efficiency when using hydrogen (as is the case with engines).

The fuel cell also has the advantage of having very high electrical efficiency and low thermal power. The electrical-thermal ratio is in the ratio of 2 to 1. This allows for overall efficiencies in excess of 80 percent.