Fuel cells

Fuel cells are a type of primary galvanic cell

whereby reactants are in continuously supply

Electricity available for

is as
long as fuel is

supplied to them

A key difference between a fuel cell and a

primary or secondary cell is that the reactants
are not stored in the fuel cell They must be continuous

supplied from an enternal source

Efficiency of fuel cells

Fuel cells have higher efficiency than thermal power
a
stations because chemical energy is directly converted
into electrical energy

The hydrogen economy

Fuel cells are seen as a replacement for the internal

combustion engine

A heat Nitrogendioxide
 g
Properties In a fuel cell

The electrodes are porous which increases the efficiency

of the cell This porous electrodes have a higher
is as

surface area increasing the rate at which the reactant

can either donate or accept electrons

The electrons contain a catalyst which increases the

potential performance power outputs of the cell This
is because the potential rate at which the reactants
can donate electrons increases

Some fuel cells use hydrogen pumped into the fuel

cell euogenously whereas other fuel cells use another
fuel Ceg methanol from which they produce hydrogen
endogenously using a reforming process Reforming is
where you convert one type of fuel into another type of
fuel With some fuel cells hydrogen is the fuel that is
directly pumped into the fuel cell With other fuel cells
another fuel cells such as methane or methanol is
pumped into the apparatus which then undergoes a

chemical reaction that produces hydrogen gas as one

of the products the hydrogen gas is then pumped into

the fuel cell for reaction
Fuel Cell Design
This is a hydrogen oxygen fuel cell
The fuel cell has two compartment
one for hydrogengas
one for onygen gas
The gas compartments are
separated by two porous electrodes
and an electrolyte solution

At the Anode C hydrogen Chel is oxidised by

gas
reacting with hydroxide ions from the electrolyte

Hacgs t 20h rags 2h20 cut 2e

At the cathode Cts oxygen gas is reduced

02cg t 2h20 a t 4e s 40 H cag

The overall equation 2Ha eg t 02cg 2h20 as

Different types of Fuel cells

Different electrolytes that are used in fuel cells

aqueous alkaline solutions usually KOH
liquids such as phosphoric acid 113POL
molten carbonate salts such as Naz z or Mgc 3
permeable polymer membranes which only allow
the passage of positive ions
Ceramics made from onides of metals such as
calcium and Zirconium
Hydrogen A fuel for fuel cells

Hydrogen production

A fuel cell using hydrogen be described as a

can
zero emmision device because water is almost the only
heat
product apart from electricity and

However unless the hydrogen fuel is produced using

renewable energy the production of hydrogen can result
in significant levels of
green house gases and other
pollutants This somewhat negates the benefit of fuel
cells

At present almost 95 1 oh hydrogen is producedfrom fossil

fuels such as natural gas oil and coal through the
process of steam reforming

In this process steam reacts with the fossil fuel

at a high temperature in the presence of a niche
catalyst The reaction for methane is representedby

Ni
CHycg t Hz0cg s
Weg t 3 Heeg
 The carbon monoxide generated can be used to
generate further hydrogen using a copper or iron
catalyst

C0cg Cu or Fe
t H Oeg CO og t Hacgy

What two
are
practical methods of generating hydrogen
without producing carbon dioxide

Using electrical energy to convert water to hydrogen

Electricity can be generated from renewable sources such
as solar power farms and wind farms

Collecting biogas from landfill sites and converting the

methane in the gas to hydrogen by steam reforming

Hydrogen storage
 The established methods of hydrogen storage in cars truck
and buses are as liquid hydrogen or compressed hydrogen

Liquid hydrogen Liquid hydrogen boils at the

extremely low temperature of 252 C and a
considerable quantity of energy is needed to liquefy it
The tanks used to store liquid hydrogen must be
well insulated The energy available per liquid
hydrogen 8 Mdt is about 4 times less than for a
l
liquid hydrocarbon fuel such as petrol 32Mt L so

a vehicle using liquid hydrogen requires a much larger

fuel tank to achieve the same driving range

Compressed
Hydrogen Hydrogen can be stored in a
high pressure tanus Cup too 700bar pressure A higher
pressure hydrogen storage tank needs to be larger to
store the same amount of energy as a liquid hydrogen
tank

Safety Issues

Hydrogen burns readily and a flame or spark will

ignite at almost any combination of hydrogen and air
Therefore it is very explosive
 On the other hand the low density of hydrogen means
that if a leak occurs hydrogen rises rapidly and disperses
in ventilated areas oftenwithout ignition In fact
a fire in a hydrogen powered vehicle can be less demaging
than a fire in a
petrol powered vehicle

Applications at fuel cells

Thermal
power plants

These are structures thatgenerate

electricity from the heat generated
from a chemical C or nuclear reaction

This is the main method by which generate electricity

we

for households Thermal power plants may be powered

by coal fuel oil natural or even uranium c for
gas
nuclear power plants

Here the fuel undergoes combustion or a nuclear

reaction which releases a vast quantity of chemical
energy or nuclear energy which is used to heat
some water nearby converting it to superheated steam
 Here chemical Inuclear energy is converted to thermal
energy in the nearby water This superheated steam
is
extremely high pressure
at so it shoots through
pipes The entreme pressure turns massive turbines
connected to Pipes the thermal energy is converted
into the mechanical energy of the turbines

The massive turbines are connected to a generator

which generates electricity from the rotation of the
turbines Here mechanical energy of the turbines
is converted into electrical energy

Internal combustion
engines

These structures
generate
mechanical energy from chemical

energy via the combustion

of a fuel This is the main way by which vehicles
are powered with the fuel being termed a transportation
fuel

Here a little bit of fuel and injected

some air are
into a series of pre compressed cylinders leading to
ignition release of energy production of high levels of
 O
These are connected to shaft
pistons a pushing
the pistons outwards leads to rotation of
this shaft The shaft happens to be connected in
most cars to the rear wheels of the vehicle
pushing the vehicle forward

Redon Flow batteries

Avantages and Disadvantages of Fuel cells

minimalnoise

Comparing Fuel cells Primary cells and Secondary cells