Life cycle assessment of plasma spray solid oxide fuel cell manufacturing processes

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This joint project between the University of Toronto and the Université de Shebrooke seeks to determine theenvironmental and economic impacts of plasma spray processing methods for the manufacture of solid oxidefuel cells (SOFCs), through a combination of experimental and analytical studies. Solid oxide fuel cells are anefficient energy conversion technology that produces negligible quantities of regulated air pollutants and verylow levels of CO2 due to the high efficiency of energy utilization. However, their use remains very limited bytheir high cost.This project will utilize Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) methods to investigateseveral relatively newer methods for the manufacture of SOFCs.Experimental studies will also be performed both to obtain data for input into the LCA and LCC models, aswell as to improve the performance of SOFC electrolyte and cathode layers produced by radio frequencyinductively coupled plasma spray processing RF-ICPS at the Université de Sherbrooke or by DC plasmaspraying by the University of Toronto.This information will be utilized to inform the decision-making process for the selection of the best productionmethods for SOFCs, as well as to identify those technological, economic, or environmental issues that shouldbe addressed to produce the largest benefits in the improvement of SOFC manufacturing methods.