King County will be the first in the nation to use new advanced fuel cell technology to turn gas produced by wastewater treatment into electricity. King County Executive Ron Sims today announced the agreement with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for the pilot project at the Department of Natural Resources Wastewater Treatment Division’s Renton plant.

The Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Demonstration Project will use one of the most efficient fuel cell technologies being demonstrated. It will convert into electricity methane gas and carbon dioxide produced by treatment of solids in wastewater. Fuel cells are an alternative to traditional power generation methods that involve combustion, where the gas is burned to generate steam, which a turbine then converts into electricity. Molten carbonate fuel cells are more efficient than conventional combustion technology, better for the environment, quieter and make better use of gas resources..

"We are proud of our leadership record in environmental protection and pleased to advance this new fuel cell technology," said King County Executive Ron Sims. "By using gas more efficiently at our treatment plants, we set the course for helping the environment, saving taxpayer dollars locally and nationally, and opening the door to exciting new developments in the private sector."

Wastewater treatment plants that treat wastewater solids with anaerobic digestion produce large quantities of methane gas. Currently, most small wastewater treatment plants burn the gases in a flare. Larger plants frequently combust the gas in internal combustion engines or remove the carbon dioxide and sell the gas. King County presently scrubs gas to remove carbon dioxide at the East Section Treatment Plant and sells it to Puget Sound Energy. Gas generated at the West Point Treatment Plant is used in engine generators to produce electricity. However, both processes are less efficient that the fuel cell power plant.

M-C Power Corporation of Burr Ridge, Illinois pioneered the molten carbonate fuel cell. The King County project will demonstrate a second generation (molten carbonate) fuel cell with in a power plant that will produce four times the power as first generation (phosphoric acid) fuel cells being tested at wastewater treatment plants in Boston, Mass. and Yonkers, N.Y. Gas produced at Renton will be converted into one megawatt of electricity during the two years of operations. Other commercially available fuel cells only produce 250 kilowatts of electricity. Waste heat from the fuel cell can be used for industrial applications or space heating at the Renton plant.

Partners in developing the Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Demonstration Project for the King County are: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington State University Energy Program, M-C Power Corporation and Puget Sound Energy. The six-year project will cost $17.7 million dollars, and will be largely funded by federal grants. The first two years of funding have been approved in the federal budget.

Updated: October 22, 1998