Unicamp is expected to build, this year, on its campus, a multi-user center for fuel cell manufacturing technologies. A project presented within the scope of the Center for Energy and Petroleum Studies (Cepetro), in partnership with Senai/Cimatec, won a R$9 million tender linked to the Rota 2030 program, launched in 2018 by the federal government with the aim of establishing an industrial policy for the automotive sector. “In the scenario we are in, of energy transition, this project is one of the main pillars that we are building within the university”, says chemical engineer Gustavo Doubek, professor at the Faculty of Chemical Engineering (FEQ) at Unicamp and coordinator of the initiative at Cepetro .
The center will work with a specific type of fuel cell: a solid oxide cell (SOFC) with a metal support, which is very efficient in converting chemical energy into electrical energy. Unlike the polymeric fuel cell, which is already more established on the market, but which only works with pure hydrogen, the solid oxide device allows the use of less pure hydrogen and even natural gas or ethanol.
Fostering innovation
“Currently, these cells are researched in Brazil at a very low level of technological maturity, TRL [Technology Readiness Levels] 1 or 2, in some research institutes and laboratories, and only with small cells. This project will allow the manufacturing scale of these cells to be expanded. We will be able to make them with larger areas, closer to what would be a product. We are focusing a lot on the issue of the manufacturing process and how to use this process”, explains Doubek. “It’s an infrastructure that doesn’t exist in Latin America.”
According to Doubek, the initiative will allow the supply of prototypes on a larger scale so that vehicle manufacturers can carry out their own evaluations, preferably on board, and thus optimize manufacturing processes. The idea is that the center will also be used by companies that want to set up their own prototypes and certify products and by research centers and universities to test new materials. “The center will be fundamental for the automotive sector to develop this new technology, both in technical terms — in the assessment of prototypes and necessary control systems — and from the point of view of the system's cost”, says the researcher.
Overcoming bottlenecks
The Unicamp team's perspective with the adoption of the new technology is to resolve two of the main bottlenecks of battery electric vehicles in Brazil: relatively small autonomy and slow recharging. This is because the researchers envisage the use of hydrated ethanol as fuel (generating electricity directly and without the need for a combustion engine), which already has a very consolidated production and distribution chain in the country. The forecast is that a SOFC vehicle will have twice the autonomy of a combustion engine, in addition to meeting the most demanding legislation in terms of pollutant emissions. Supply would occur in the same way as it is done today, with ethanol. According to Doubek, the system will be ideal for buses, trucks and other vehicles that need to travel long distances, and cannot run the risk of running out of battery midway.
“We can add cutting-edge technology to an already widely developed sector of our economy, biofuels, in which Brazil is a global protagonist”, highlights the researcher. “In addition, SOFC can replace most of the batteries needed in an electric vehicle, reducing its final weight and eliminating the problems of long recharges.”
Senai/Cimatec will contribute with the MS-SOFC Module technology. The institution will develop part of the module's components, such as the metallic bipolar plates, closing and sealing system. In partnership with Unicamp, it will assemble the unitary fuel cell and the power modules, called stack. The assembly of the module will initially be carried out at Senais/Cimatec Park, which has dedicated areas for production planning, pilot plants and development of full-scale prototypes. According to the associate coordinator of the project at Senai/Cimatec, Gerhard Ett, the Cimatec Park structure has precision equipment, such as industrial additive manufacturing printers, cutting machines and presses, essential for assembling bipolar plates and other stack components. Later, larger modules will be assembled at Unicamp.
“The partnership between Unicamp and the Cimatec Competence Center will make it possible to develop strategic projects for Brazil, taking advantage of the natural energy resources of each region”, says Gerhard Ett. The institution, based in Salvador, has a Green Hydrogen Competence Center and is setting up the H2V Hub at Senai Cimatec Park, the institution's industrial campus, located in Camaçari.
The financial contribution for the entire project will be made through the Support Foundation of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (Fundep), which launched the notice and manages the resources. “In the pre-competitive phase, this contribution is crucial to enable the development of the technology. As SOFC cells, despite being very promising, are still underdeveloped, especially for an embedded application, many companies are unable to justify high-risk investments without a more defined horizon, both from a technology and regulatory point of view", he states. Oaklet.
The expectation is that the center will start operating by the end of 2024 and that it will work in synergy with another Cepetro project focused on electric mobility — which won the same notice and foresees the creation of a Battery Manufacturing Center (CMB) .
