Life cycle assessment of an alkaline fuel cell CHP system

A life cycle assessment (LCA) of an alkaline fuel cell based domestic combined heat and power (CHP) system is presented. Literature on non-noble, monopolar cell design and stack construction was reviewed, and used to produce a life cycle inventory for the construction of a 1 kW stack. Inventories for the ancillary components of other commercial fuel cell products were consulted, and combined with information on the fuel processing requirements of alkaline cells to suggest a hypothetical balance of plant that would be required to produce AC electricity and domestic grade heat from natural gas and air.