schematic overview of the fuel cell system installed in Mataro
WWTP is depicted in Fig. 1. The fuel cell unit mainly consisted of
two sub-systems: the electrochemical stack (2 1.4 kWe) and the
thermal integration unit.
On the one hand, the stack (Staxera, Dresden, Germany) converted the chemical energy within the fuel into electrical energy
and consisted of 2 stacks in parallel each of 60 electrolytesupported cells (total surface area 255.6 cm2
). Cells were made of
a porous nickel-based anode, a p-semi-conductor cathode (LithiumeStrontium-Manganite) and a ceramic solid electrolyte
(Yttrium-Stabilized Zirconia). The generated electricity (DC at 60A/
42V) was dissipated through an electronic charge, as there was no
scientific interest on actually using it (a transformer and DC/AC
inverter was used).