DECCANCOLLEGEOFENGI

NEERI
NG&TECHNOLOGY
(
APPROVEDBYA.
I.
C.T.
EANDAFFI
LATEDTOOU,
HYDERABAD)

DEPARTMENTOFMECHANI
CALENGI
NEERI
NG

DESI
GNOFFUELCELL
A THESI
SSUBMI
TTEDINPARTI
ALFULLFI
LMENTOFTHEREQUI
REMENT
FORTHEAWARDSOFDEGREE

BACHELOR I
NENGI
NEERI
NG
I
N

MECHANI
CAL
BY

MOHAMMEDAZMATH 160316736081
SAADMASOOD 160316736086
ABDULHAI 1603167260101
UNDERTHEESTEEMEDGUI
DANCEOF
Dr
.SMUJEEBQUADER
ASSOCI
ATEPROFESSOR(
MECHANI
CAL)
 DECCANCOLLEGEOFENGI
NEERI
NG&TECHNOLOGY
(
APPROVEDBYA.
I.
C.T.
EANDAFFI
LATEDTOOU,
HYDERABAD)

DEPARTMENTOFMECHANI
CALENGI
NEERI
NG

CERTI
FICATE
Thi
sist
ocer
ti
fyt
hattheThesi
senti
tled"
DESI
GNOFFUELCELL"i
sa
bonaf
iderecor
dworkdone

MOHAMMEDAZMATH 160316736081
SAADMASOOD 160316736086
ABDULHAI 1603167260101
Inapart
ialf
ulfi
lmentofrequi
rementfortheawardofdegreeof
Bachel
orofEngineer
ingTechnol
ogyi nMechanical
Engineeri
ng,
from
DeccanColl
egeofEngineeri
ngandTechnol ogy
,Hyderabadhasbeen
carr
iedoutundermygui danceandsupervi
sion.

Dr
.SMuj
eebQuadeer Dr
.RChandr
asekar
anRao

Pr
ofessor(
Int
ernal
Gui
de) H.
O.D

Dept
.ofMechEngi
neer
ing Dept
.ofMechEngi
neer
ing
 EXTERNALEXAMI
NER

ABSTRACT

Thefoll
owingdocumentisasemi narrepor
trequir
edinVIIIsemester,
underthecurr
icul
um ofOSMANI AUNI VERSITY,Hyder
abad.Thecont ents
ofthedocumenttendtogiveabriefviewofhy dr
ogenfuelcell
,thei
r
worki
ng,componentsthei
rtypes,etc.

Onehav i
nginterestinMechani
calEngineeri
ngwouldbekeent ogai
n
addi
t i
onalknowledgeinfiel
dofFundament al
sofFuelCel
l,Uti
li
zat
ionof
energyresourcesinautomobil
eengineeri
ngandi t
swideappli
cati
ons.The
documenti soneoft hescopesIhavetakenintoconsi
der
ation

Hy drogeni sanespeci al
lyattracti
vet r
anspor tati
onf uel
.Itistheleast
polluti
ngf uelavail
abl e,andcanbepr oducedany wheret hereiswateranda
cleansour ceofelectrici
ty.Af uelcyclei nwhichhy drogeni susedina
fuel-cellpoweredel ectri
c-mot orvehicle( FCEV) ,
woul dproducel i
tt
leorno
l
ocal ,regional
,orgl obal poll
ution.Hydr ogenFCEVswoul dcombi net hebest
featuresofbat ter
y -
power edel ect
ri
cv ehi cl
es(BPEVs)- -zeroemi ssions,
highef fi
ciency,quietoper ati
onandl ongl i
fe-
-wi t
ht hel
ongr angeandf ast
refuelingtimeofi nternal-combust i
on- enginev ehi
cles(ICEVs) .

Iffuel-
cell
technol
ogydev elopsashoped,t
henhydrogenFCEVswillbea
signif
icantadvanceoverbot hhydr
ogenICEVsandsolarBPEVs:t
heywi l
lbe
cleanerandmor eeffi
cientthanhydrogenI
CEVs,haveamuchshor t
er
refueli
ngtimethanBPEVs, andhav ealowerl
if
ecycl
ecostthanboth
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

Weexpressourgrateful
thanks,deepregardsandgr at
it
udetoDr.SMUJEEB
QUADEER Associ ateProfessorinMechani calEngineeri
ng,
fr
om Deccan
Col
legeofEngi
neeringandTechnol ogyHy derabad.Forhisgenui
ne
pr
eciousef
fort
sguidanceandencour agementi nourpr oj
ect
.

Wewoul dli
ketoexpr
essourgrati
tudet oDr
.RChandr
asekaran,
Headof
Mechanicalandpr
oduct
ionEngineeri
ngDepart
mentforhissuppor
tand
suggest
iontocarr
youtourpr
ojectwor k.

Wewoul dal
soli
ketothankOMERKHANofChemi
str
yDepar
tment f
ort
he
suggest
ionandhel
pincarry
ingoutt
hewor
k.

Fi
nal
ly,
weextendourhear
tfel
tthankst
oallt
heunment ionedonceandt
he
i
nvi
sibl
ehandswhohelpedinmaki ngt
hispr
ojectsuccessful
.
 LI
STOFCONTENTS
i
. Cov
erPage

i
i
. Cer
ti
fi
cat
e

i
i
i. Abst
ract

i
v. Acknowl
edgement

v
. Li
stofTabl
es

Mai
nText

Chapt
er-
01:
Int
roduct
ion

1.
1 Or
igi
nsOfFuel
Cel
l

1.
2 Ti
mel
i
neOfFuel
Cel
lDev
elopment

1.
3 Basi
cPr
inci
pleOfFuel
Cel
l

Chapt
er-
02:
AboutFuel
Cel
l

2.
1 I
ntr
oduct
ion

2.
2 Wor
kingOfFuel
Cel
l

2.
3 Cl
assi
fi
cat
ionOfHy
drogenFuel
Cel
l

2.
3.1St
ati
onar
yFuel
Cel
lSy
stem

2.
3.2Pol
ymerEl
ect
rol
yteMembr
aneFuel
Cel
l(PEMFC)

2.
3.3Di
rectMet
hanol
Fuel
Cel
l
 2.
3.4Al
kal
i
neFuel
Cel
l

2.
4 Fuel
Cel
lSy
stem ForAut
omot
iveAppl
i
cat
ion

2.
4.1Pol
ymerEl
ect
rol
yteFuel
Cel
l(PEFC)Sy
stem

Chapt
er-
03:
Hydr
ogenPr
oduct
ion

3.
1 Hy
drogenPr
oduct
ionOpt
ions

3.
2 Hy
drogenFr
om Wat
er

3.
2.1El
ect
rol
ysi
s

3.
3 Hy
drogenFr
om Fossi
lFuel

3.
3.1Nat
ural
GasRef
ormi
ng

3.
4 Basi
cMechani
sm

3.
5 Exampl
esOfAppl
i
cat
ion

Chapt
er-
04:
Desi
gnofFuel
Cel
l

4.
1Component
sofaFuel
Cel
l

4.
1.1Wor
kingComponent
s

4.
1.2Saf
etyComponent
s

4.
2Desi
gnSpeci
fi
cat
ionsofEachComponent

4.
3Pr
oposedChangest
oCommer
cial
Desi
gn
Chapt
er-
05:
Hydr
ogenSt
orageTechni
ques

5.
1 I
ntr
oduct
ion

5.
1.1Pr
essur
izedTankSt
orage

5.
1.2Cr
yoAdsor
pti
onHy
drogenSt
orage

5.
1.3Car
bonNanoTube&Rel
atedSt
orageTechnol
ogi
es

5.
2 Hy
drogenFuel
Stor
ageSaf
ety

Chapt
er-
06:

6.
1 Benef
it
sOfFuel
Cel
lTechnol
ogi
es

6.
1.1St
acks&Sy
stems

6.
2 Adv
ant
agesOfHy
drogenFuel
Cel
l

6.
3 I
ssuesOfHy
drogenFuel
Cel
l

6.
4 Appl
i
cat
ionOfFuel
Cel
l

6.
4.1Aut
omot
iveAppl
i
cat
ion

6.
4.2Ni
cheTr
anspor
tAppl
i
cat
ion

6.
4.3Por
tabl
eAppl
i
cat
ion

6.
5UseofBi
product
s

6.
5.1I
deat
oUt
il
isePr
oducedWat
er

6.
5.2I
deat
oUt
il
isePr
oducedHeat

Concl
usi
on

Ref
erences
 Li
stoft
abl
es

S.
no Tabl
e Ti
tl
es Pg.
no
no.
1. 2.
1 Cl
assi
fi
cat
ionoff
uel
cel
l 20

2. 2.
2 Techni
cal
dat
aofPEMFC 24
syst
em
3. 2.
3 HydrogenFuelcell 33
demonstrat
ion
vehi
cles(
2001-2003)
4. 2.
4 Technical
datafor 34
gasol
inerefor
mers
5. 3.
1 Gener
icdat
aforH2 43
i
nter
nalcombust
ion
Engi
ne
6. 4.
1 Desi
gnSpeci
fi
cati
onof
eachCompound 53

Chapt
er1

I
NTRODUCTI
ON
1.
1Gr
oveCel
l:TheFi
rstFuelCel
l
Thesemi nal wor kofWi ll
iam Gr ov eonf uelcellsin1839i swel lknownnowaday s
butatt het i
meofhi si nvention,thesci enti
strathercal l
edt hedev i
cea“ gasv olt
aic
batt
ery” .Ther efore, whil
ey ear1839i sunambi guousl yconsi deredatt hebir
thdat e
offuelcel l
s, thef i
rstof f
icialappear anceoft het erm“ fuelcell”wi l
lonlybef ound
i
napubl i
cationoft heTr ansact i
onsoft heFar adaySoci etyal mostonecent ur y
l
ater,i
n1922.Gr ovesf ir
sti nvention,abat t
erycal l
ed“ Grovecel l”wasusedbyt he
Amer i
canTel egr aphCompanyduet oitshighcur rentout putunt i
l1860.After
havingst artedasal awy erGr ovewi llt
urntoapr ofessorofphy sics,andafterthen
switchbet weenal egal andasci entifi
ccarriersev eralti
mes.Wi thprobablysome
hel
pf rom t heGer manchemi stChr i
sti
anSchönbei n,af ri
endandcol leaguewi th
whom hei sexchangi ngf r
ui t
fulideas;hesuccessf ullyreversest heelectr
olysisof
wat
ert
hathasbeendiscoveredi
ntheearl
y1800sbyEngl
i
shchemist
sWi
l
li
am
Ni
chol
son,
AnthonyCarli
sleandexper
imentedbyHumphr
eyDavy
.

Grov econst r
uct sacel l consi sti
ngoft wosepar at
eseal edcompar tment s,each
onehav i
ngapor ouspl atinum f oil
electrodedi ppedi naqueoussul phur i
caci dand
beingf edbyhy drogengasandbyoxy gengas, respect i
vely
.Theexper iment
howev er,doesnotgener ateenoughel ect r
icitytodousef ulwor k.Ther efore,Grov
e
combi nesinser i
essev eral setsofel ectrodesandobt ai
nst heact ual“ gasbat t
ery”
.
Heshowst hi
swayt hataconst antcur r
entcanbedr awnbet weenel ectrodesand
obser v
est hatwat erandheatar eproducedasbypr oducts.Yet ,heisunabl eto
quant i
fyther eactionpr oduct sandst udyi nmuchmor edet ailthesy stem hehas
created.Ther easoni st hatt hesequest ionscoul dnotpossi blybeanswer eddue
tothel ackofacompr ehensi v etheoryandadequat eequi pmenti nthe1840s.He
i
sal soconsci oust hatthechi efissueist oi ncreaset he“ surfaceofact ion”
betweent hecomponent sandcomescl oset ot heideaofgasel ectr
odesasused
i
ncur rentfuel cells.Itreal l
yseemst hatt hemanwast oomuchaheadofhi sti
me!

Unli
kebat teri
essuchast heGr ovecel l
,thegasbat t
eryisleftasasci entifi
c
curi
ositydur i
ngal argepar toft heXIXthcent ury.Timeswer enotupt o,shouldwe
say.Despitecont i
nuedt echnol ogicaladv ancement s,applicationsi nthereal worl
d
havenotcomet othemi ndofengi neersandi nventors.Nev ertheless,duringthe
sameper i
odt hedebat eislivelyamongsci entiststry
inghar dt ocl ari
fythebasi c
pri
nciplesofel ect
rochemi cal phenomena.Gr ov esgasbat ter ybecomesaper fect
pract
icalil
lustrati
onoft heset heoreticaldiscussions.Inor dert oexplaintheor igi
n
ofcurrentflowbet weencer t
ainmat eri
als,a“ contact”theor yi nvolvi
ngmer e
physi
cal contactanda“ chemi cal”theor yinvolvi
ngachemi cal r
eactionar e
opposed.Schönbei nandGr ovear einfav ouroft hechemi cal theory.Thet ruthis
act uall
yin‐bet ween, andaf teral ongcont rover syi tiseventual lyest ablishedt hat
i
nagasbat ter yther eact i
onwi llonl yoccuri nt hecont actzonebet weenr eact ant,
elect r
odeandel ect rol
y t
e.
Nonebutt hemai nf ounderofmoder nphy sical chemi st
ry,theRussi an‐ Ger man
FriedrichOst wal dev entual lybringsadeci si vecont ri
butiont ot het heor etical and
exper iment al under standi ngoff uel cellreact ionsi nt he1880s.Byski llf
ully
associ ati
ngmeasur ement sofphy si
cal proper tiesandchemi cal anal y sis,and
thankst ohi swor konmet al cataly si
s,hesucceedst oexpl ainhowf uel cel ls
oper ate:notonl yt hef unct i
onoft hedifferentcomponent s(elect r odes, electrol y
te
andgasr eact ants)butal sot heirt hermody nami call
y-andki net ically‐driven
i
nt eracti
onsatt hei nterfacebet weent heel ect r
odeandt heel ect rol yt
eundert he
presenceofaf uel.Thi sbr eakt hroughi nt hesci ent i
fi
cknowl edgeaboutgas
bat ter
iesi sthenecessar yopendoorf orpr act ical attemptst omaket hem become
ar ealit
y.Att het urningpoi ntbet weent heXI XthandXXt hcent ur ies, thef irst
syst emsbegi nst ocomeoutf rom Eur opeanandUSl aborator iesasr esear cher s
areexami ningt hepossi bili
tyofconv erti
ngcoal orcoal gasdi rect l
yi ntoel ectrici
ty.
Ascoal isaf uel,Gr ovesgasbat terychangesi t
snamei nto“ fuel bat tery ”and
fi
nal ly“fuel cel l
”asweknowt oday .

Gr
ovecel
l(f
ig.
1.1)
Inagr eementwi thGr ovesr equestf orahi ghercont actar eabet weenf uelcell
component s,earl
ydev elopment s(50y earsaf t
erGr ov esexper iment s!)are
dev otedtoexper i
ment al improv ement sint hedesi gn, e.g.,
introduct i
onofmor e
effi
cientplati
num bl ackpowderasacat alystcoatedont hebul kpl ati
num
electrodesandaddi ti
onofapor ousdi aphragm i nor dert oimpr egnat ethel i
quid
electroly
te.In1889Ger manchemi stLudwi gMondandhi sassi stantChar les
Langerbui ldsadev i
cer unningonai randcoal gasknownast he“ Mondgas” .At
thesamet imeot hersy stemsar eset upbyUSandFr encht eams.Ty pical
probl emsexper i
encedbyr esearchersar eduet omat eri
alschoseni nthedi f
ferent
partsorgasl eakagesbet weencompar tment s,whichpr eventf r
om r eachinghi gh
voltagesuponser iescombi nati
onoft heuni tcell
sandcausel imiteddur abil
ity.I
t
i
sal soobser vedt hatonl yhigh‐costpr eciousmet alssuchaspl ati
num canmake
ther eacti
onwi thav aluabl eeffi
ciency .Thisisobv iousl ydeleteriousf orpractical
appl i
cati
onsoft hepr ocess.

Theendoft heXI Xthcent uryi sal sot heti

mef orapr ospect iv edebat eaboutthe
possi bl
edi rectpr oduct ionofel ect r
icityf
rom inexpensi vecoal andcombust i
ble
gasses: suchaper spect i
v eisasser tedbysomeaut hor snot hinglessthana
revolutionwhi l
est ronglyt emper edbyot hers,(e.g.,cont roversyint heElectr
ical
Wor l
dJour nalin1895) .Fi nally
,consensusi smadeont hefactt hatgasbat teri
es
arecompl exandcost l
ysy stemsunabl etocompet ewi thmor esimpl ebatt
eries.In
thef oll
owi ngper iodbat ter i
esunder gocont i
nueddev elopmentf orsev er
al
appl i
cationsi ncludingcar s, wher easgasbat t
er iesar eputawaybacki nthelabf or
af ewmor edecades.Letusr emi ndt hatinthef irstquar teroft heXXt hcentury
onet hi
rdofal laut omobi leswer ebat tery‐
power edel ect ri
cv ehicles.What
visionarymi ndcoul dhav epr edict edatt hi
st i
met hati twoul dr equirehundred
mor eyear sorsobef or egasbat t eri
es, nowcal ledf uel cell
s, couldcomecl oset o
being“ readyf ormar ket”?

Itistherefor
eatthel
ablevel
thatthenexti
mpr ovement
sareobt ainedonfuel
cells.Theimport
anceofthekineti
csi
ntheelectr
ochemical
r eact
ionsis
discov er
ed.Att
hebeginni
ngoft heXXt
hcentury,newel
ectrolyt
emat eri
als
perf
ormi ngathighertemperaturesthanaqueoussol utionsareexplor
edthatwi
ll
l
eadt othev ari
oustypesofmoder nfuelcell
s:meltcarbonates,sol
idoxi
des,
phosphor i
cacid.Furt
herhist
oricinformationaboutpracticaldevel
opmentsofa
speci
ficfuelcellt
echnologywillbefoundi nthecorrespondingpagesofthis
website.Forexample, Fr
anci
sBaconspi oneer i
ngwor konaci dphosphori
cfuel
cel
lsisreportedintheAFCpage.[ 1]

1.
2Ti
mel
ineofFuelCel
lDev
elopment
I
n1889, t
heterm“ f
uelcell”wasfi
rstcoinedbyLudwi gMondandChar lesLanger
,
whoat temptedtobuil
dawor ki
ngfuelcel
lusingairandindust
ri
alcoalgas.
Anothersourcestat
est hatitwasWill
i
am Whi teJacqueswhof i
rstcoi
nedthe
ter
m" fuelcel
l.
"Jacqueswasal sothefir
stresearchert
ousephosphor i
cacidin
theelectr
olyt
ebath. [2]

I
nthe1920s,fuelcel
lresear
chi
nGermanypav
edthewayt
othedev
elopmentof
t
hecarbonat
ecy cleandsoli
doxi
def
uelcel
l
softoday
.

In1932, engi
neerFrancisTBaconbeganhisv i
talresearchi
ntofuelscell
s.Ear
ly
celldesi
gnersusedpor ousplat
inum el
ect
rodesandsul phuri
cacidast he
electr
olytebat
h.Usingplati
num wasexpensiveandusi ngsulphur
icacidwas
corrosi
ve.Baconimpr ovedontheexpensiv
eplatinum catal
ystswithahydrogen
andoxy gencellusi
ngal esscorrosi
veal
kali
neelectrol
yteandinexpensiv
enickel
electr
odes.

IttookBaconunt i
l1959t operf
ecthisdesi
gn,whenhedemonstr
ateda
fiv
e-kil
owattfuelcel
lthatcoul
dpowerawel dingmachi
ne.Fr
anci
sT.Bacon,
a
directdescendentoftheotherwell
knownFr anci
sBacon,
namedhisfamousfuel
celldesignthe"BaconCell.
"

I
nOctoberof1959, Har
ryKar
lIhri
g,anengineerf
ortheAl
li
s-Chal
mers
Manufacturi
ngCompany ,
demonstrateda20-hor
sepowert
ract
ort
hatwast
he
f
ir
stvehicleeverpower
edbyaf uelcell
.

Duri
ngtheear
ly1960s,Gener
alEl
ect
ri
cproducedt
hefuel-
cel
l-
basedel
ectr
ical
powersyst
em forNASA'sGemini
andApoll
ospacecapsul
es.Gener
alEl
ectri
c
usedthepr
inci
plesfoundinthe"
BaconCel
l"ast
hebasi
sofit
sdesi
gn.Today
,the
SpaceShut
tle'
select
ri
cityi
sprov
idedbyf
uelcel
l
s,andt
hesamefuelcel
l
sprovi
de
dri
nki
ngwaterforthecrew.

NASAdeci dedthatusingnuclearreact
orswast oohi gharisk,
andusingbat
ter
ies
orsolarpowerwast oobulkytousei nspacev ehi
cles.NASAhasf undedmore
than200r esear
chcont r
act
sexpl ori
ngfuel
-cel
l t
echnology,bri
ngi
ngthe
technol
ogyt oalevelnowviableforthepri
vatesector.[3]

Thefi
rstbuspoweredbyafuelcel
lwascomplet
edin1993,andsever
alfuel
-cel
l
car
sarenowbei ngbui
lti
nEuropeandi
ntheUnitedSt
ates.Dai
mlerBenzand
Toyot
alaunchedprot
otypef
uel-
cel
lpoweredcar
sin1997.

May betheanswerto" What'

ssogr eataboutfuelcel
ls?"shouldbethequestion
"What '
ssogreataboutpoll
uti
on,changingthecli
mat eorrunningoutofoil,
naturalgasandcoal?"Asweheadi nt
ot henextmill
ennium,iti
sti
met oput
renewableenergyandplanet-
fr
iendlytechnol
ogyatt hetopofourprior
it
ies.

Fuelcel
lshavebeenar oundf orover150yearsandoff
erasourceofenergythat
i
sinexhausti
ble,env
ironment al
lysafeandalwaysavai
labl
e.Sowhyaren'
tthey
bei
ngusedev erywherealready?Untilr
ecent
ly,i
thasbeenbecauseofthecost.
Thecell
swer etooexpensivet omake.Thathasnowchanged.

IntheUni tedStates,sev er
alpiecesofl egi
slationhavepromotedt hecurr
ent
explosioni nhydrogenf uelcelldevelopment: namely,
thecongressionalHydrogen
FutureActof1996andsev eralstatelawspr omotingzeroemissionlevel
sf orcar
s.
Wor l
dwi de,dif
ferenttypesoff uelcellshavebeendev elopedwithextensiv
epubl i
c
funding.TheUni tedStat esalonehassunkmor et
hanonebi l
l
iondol l
arsi
nto
fuel
-cellresearchinthel astthi
rtyyears.

I
n1998, Icelandannouncedpl anstocreat
eahy drogeneconomyi ncooperati
on
wit
hGer mancarmakerDai mlerBenzandCanadianf uelcelldevel
operBall
ard
PowerSy stems.The10- yearplanwouldconvertallt
ransportati
onvehicl
es,
i
ncludi
ngI celand'
sfi
shingfleet,ov
ertofuel
-cel
l
-power edv ehicl
es.I
nMar ch,1999,
I
celand,Shel l
Oil,
Dai
ml erChrysler
,andNorskHy droformedacompanyt of urt
her
devel
opI celand'
shydrogeneconomy .
InFebr uar
y,1999,Europe'sfir
stpubli
ccommer ci
alhydr
ogenf uelstat
ionforcars
andtrucksopenedf orbusinessinHambur g,Germany.[4]{
InApri
l,1999,Daimler
Chryslerunveil
edthel i
quidhydrogenvehicl
eNECAR4.Wi t
hat opspeedof90
mphanda280- miletankcapacity,
thecarwowedt hepress.Thecompanypl ans
tohav efuel-
cellv
ehiclesinli
mitedproducti
onbyt heyear2004.Byt hatti
me,
DaimlerChr ysl
erwillhavespent$1.4bil
li
onmor eonfuel-
cellt
echnology
development .

InAugust
,1999,Singapor
ephysi
cistsannouncedanewhy dr
ogenstorage
methodofalkal
idopedcarbonnanot ubest
hatwouldincreasehydrogenstorage
andsafet
y.ATaiwanesecompany ,SanYang,isdev
elopingthefi
rstfuelcel
l
poweredmotorcycle.

1.
3Basi
cPr
inci
pleofaFuelCel
l
Basical
ly,
afuel cellisadev i
cethatconv ertsdirectl
yt hechemi calenergystor
ed
i
ngaseousmol ecul esoffuelandoxidanti ntoelectr
ical energy
.Whent hefueli
s
hydrogentheonl yby ‐productsarepurewat erandheat .Theov er
allprocessis
therever
seofwat erelectr
olysi
s.I
nel ectrolysi
s,anel ectri
ccurrentappliedto
waterproduceshy drogenandoxy gen;byr eversingthepr ocess,hydrogenand
oxygenarecombi nedt oproduceelectr
icityandwat er( andheat ).

Afuelcel
lcanbeseenwi t
hprofi
tasa“ chemicalfact
ory”thatconti
nuousl
y
t
ransf
ormsf uelenergyi
ntoelect
rici
tyaslongasf ueli
ssupplied.However,
unl
ike
i
nter
nalcombust i
onenginesthatcanber egardedasf act
ori
esaswel l
,fuel
cel
l
s
r
elyonachemi calreact
ioninvol
vi
ngt hefuel
,andnotoni tscombustion.

Duringcombust ion, mol

ecularhydr ogenandoxy genbondsar ebr okenand
electr
onsr econfigurei
ntomol ecularwaterbondsatapi cosecondslengthscale.
Thereisnopossi blewayto“ catchup”t hesef r
eeel ectronsandt henetenergy
diff
erencebet weenmol ecularbondsi npr oductsv s.reactantscanonl ybe
recoveredinthemostdegr adedf orm ofener gy,i
.e.heat .ACar notcycl
einvol
ving
thetransformationofheati nt
omechani cal andelectricalenergyistheninv
olved
i
nconv ent
ionalmet hodsforgener ati
ngel ectri
cit
y:thesesuccessi vestepsof
t
ransf
ormati
onofener
gysever
elyl
imi
ttheover
all
eff
iciencyoftheprocess
(
whichisbydef
ini
ti
onthepr
oductoft
heeff
ici
encyofthediff
erentst
eps).

Inafuelcel
lthedi r
ectconv ersionofthechemi calenergyofcov al
entbondsinto
elect
ri
calenergyismadepossi bl
ebyt hespatialseparationofthehy drogenand
oxygenreactantsbyt heelectroly
te.Theelectrontransfernecessaryt ocomplete
thebondingreconfigurati
onint owatermol eculesoccursov eramuchl onger
l
engthscale.Thisallowsdi r
ectcol l
ecti
onofel ectr
onsasacur r
enti nfuelcel
ls
andleadstof uelef
ficienci
est wot othreeti
meshi ghert hanini
nt er
nal
combustionengines( dependingont hef uelcellt
echnology )
.

Unl
ikebatt
eri
es,therei
snochemical
transf
ormat
ionofanycomponentofthefuel
cel
ldevi
ceduringoperati
onandi
tcangenerat
epowerwithoutr
echar
ging,
aslong
asiti
sbeingfedwi t
hfuel.

Wor
kingpr
inci
ple(
fi
g1.
2)

Theunitf
uelcel
lst
ruct
urecal
ledthemembraneel
ectr
odeassembly(MEA)
ty
pical
l
yconsist
sofanelect
roly
teincont
actoni
tsbothsi
deswit
ht woel
ect
rodes,
onenegati
veelect
rode(
anode)andoneposit
iveelect
rode(cathode)
.Fueli
s
cont
inuousl
yfedtotheanodesi
deandoxidantisconti
nuouslyfedtothecat
hode
si
de.

Fuelcellreactant
sar ecl assi
fiedasfuelsandoxi dantsonthebasi sontheir
el
ectrondonorandel ectronacceptorproperti
es.Oxidantsmainlyincl
udepur e
oxygenandoxy gen‐cont ai
ninggasese. g.air
,orhalogense.g.chlori
ne.Fuels
i
ncludepur ehy dr
ogenandhy drogen‐contai
ninggases,e.g.methanol,ethanol,
naturalgas,gasoline,biogas,diesel
,etc.Inthemostst rai
ghtf
orwar dcase,i.
e.the
hydrogenf uelcel
l thecombust i
onofhy drogenintowaterisspli
tintotwo
el
ectrochemi calreactionsoccur r
ingattheanodeandcat hode,respecti
vely,
whi ch
aretermedast het wohal f‐
cellr
eacti
ons:

H2 =2H+ +2e‐½O2 +2H+ +2e‐=H2O

Combi
nat
ionoft
het
wohal
f‐
cel
lreact
ionsgi
vest
heov
eral
lcombust
ionr
eact
ion:

H2 +½O2 → H2O

I
nanyf uel cellconfi
gurationtherol
eoft heelectrolyteiscruci
albecausei tmust
i
nsul atethet wohal f‐
cellr
eact i
onselectr
icallyinast ri
ctsensewhi l
eallowingthe
i
onicpassageofpr ot
onspr oducedatt heanodet ot hecathodesi dewher ethey
willcombi neandf orm amol eculeofwat er.Asaconsequence, el
ectrolyt
esar e
bothgoodpr otonconduct orsandelectri
ci nsulat
or s.Thethirdrequirementf or
el
ect rol
ytesi simper meabilit
ytogasesi nor dertosepar atetheanodi candt he
cathodescompar tments,andt huspreventpar asiti
cr eacti
onsduet ogas
crossov er.Finall
y,theelectrol
ytehastobechemi callyresi
stanttoanyr eactantor
productdur ingt heprocess.

Aspassageofel ectronsi shinderedthrought heelectr

olyte,theyareforcedto
fl
owanot herway .Tot hi
spur pose,electr
odesar econnect edt oanexternal
el
ectri
calcir
cuitandi nsteadtof ol
lowpr otonstheelectronst akethissecond
pathway.Thisall
owsdi r
ectcollecti
onofel ectri
cit
y.Dependingont hetypeoffuel
cel
l,t
hemostsui tableel ectr
odemat erial
sar eofv ar
iousnat ures:metalsor
oxi
des,cataly
zedornot .Theyar edescr i
bedint hesecti
onr elati
vetothe
member softhef uelcell f
amily.Thecommonf eatureoffuel cell
elect
rodesisa
hi
ghsurf
acear
eai nor
dert
omaximizeeachhal
f‐
cel
lreact
ionzone;
ther
efor
ethey
ar
erel
ati
vel
yporouscompounds.

Ever
ytypeoffuelcelli
scharacteri
zedbyi
tsownpar t
icul
argeometr
y,di
mensions,
andmateri
als;
y et
,thecor
eoft hedev i
cer
emainsthesame: i
tconsi
stsofan
el
ectr
olyt
e,t
woel ectr
odes,andt wogasbacki
nglayer
sandmostof ten,
bipol
ar
pl
atessepar
atingunitcel
l
s.

Fort
hegasbacki
ngsnotl
esst
hanf
ivedi
ff
erentr
equi
rement
smustbef
ulf
il
led:

1.Goodel
ectroni
cconduct
ivi
tyt
otranspor
ttheelect
ronsf
rom t
he
el
ectr
ochemicaloxi
dat
ionofhydr
ogenmostef f
ici
entl
y;

2.Highgaspermeabi
l
ityt
oalloweasyaccessoft
hegasr
eact
ant
sfr
om t
he
feedi
ngsourcetot
hereact
ionzone;

3.Hi
ghpor
osi
tyt
oopt
imi
zepr
oductwat
ermanagementi
nthesy
stem;

4.Goodr
esi
stancest
rengt
htogi
veamechani
cal
suppor
ttot
heMEA;

5.Hi
ghcor
rosi
onr
esi
stancet
otheaci
dicenv
ironmenti
nthef
uel
cel
l
.

Thebi polarplat
esar etheint
erconnect ingcomponent sthatcollecttheel ectr
ons
anddr i
vethem tot heexternalcircui
t.Theyar egroov
edwi t
hchannel sforgas
fl
owi nputandout putandmustmanagewat eraswellaspossi ble.Thedesi gn
andt hegeomet ri
cdi mensionsoft hechannel s(i
ntheor derof1mm)ar ecrucial
forobt ai
ningahomogeneoust ransportofgasesont hewhol esur faceof
electrodes,evacuat eli
quidwat erdropletsformedbyt hefuelcellreaction,thus
achiev i
ngstablecont inuousoper ati
on.Asev erycomponenti naf uelcell
, t
hey
mustbecor rosion‐resist
ant;butunlikegasbackings,thebipolarpl atesmustbe
gastight.[5]
 Chapt
er2
ABOUTFUELCELL
2.
1Int
roduct
ion
Afuelcelli
sagalvaniccellthatef f
ici
entlyconvertschemicalener
gytoelectr
ical
energyandusefulheat.Stati
onar yfuelcell
scanbeusedf orbackuppoweraswel l
asdistr
ibut
edpower .Modul arit
yoff uelcel
lsmakest hem usefulf
oralmostany
port
ableappli
cati
ont hattypical
lyusesbat ter
ies.Fuelcell
shaveprovedtobev er
y
eff
ecti
veinthetransportat
ionsect orfrom personalvehicl
estomar i
nevessel
s.

Therear et
woi mpor tanttypesoff uelcells,namely,hydrogenf uelcellsand
microbialf
uelcells.Thisstudywi llbefocusedonhy drogenf uelcel l
s.Thesef uel
cell
sdi r
ect
lyconv ertthechemi calenergyi nhy dr
ogent oelectri
city.Theonl y
by-product
soft hisreacti
onar epur ewat erandusef ulheat.Hy drogenf uelcells
aremor eeffi
cientthant r
aditi
onal combust ionenginesandar epol l
utionfree,
giventhatonehasasour ceofhy drogen.At r
adit
ionalcombust ionpowerpl antis
33%-35%ef fi
cientingener at
ingel ect
ri
city,whereasf uelcell
shav ebeenknown
tobe60%ef f
icientwithoutcogener ati
on[ 2].Inaddit
iontot hat,fuelcellengines
havef
ewermovi
ngpartswhencompar
edt
oat
radi
ti
onal
combust
ionengi
ne,
and
thi
shel
psi
nthei
rqui
eteroper
ati
on.

Fuel cel
lsareexpect edt obesui t
ableforawi derangeofappl i
cations.
Transpor t
ationapplicationsincl
udev ehiclepropulsionandon- boar dauxi l
i
ary
powergener ati
on.Por tableappli
cati
onsi ncludeconsumerel ectronics, business
machi nery,andrecreat i
onaldevices.Stati
onar ypowerappl i
cat i
onsi ncl ude
stand-alonepowerpl ants,di
stri
butedgener ation,cogenerati
on, back- uppower
units,andpowerf orr emot elocati
ons.Wi thi
nCASCADEMI NTS, wef ocuson
applicati
onst hatmightachi evear el
evantshar ewithrespecttot heirov erall
ener gyconsumpt i
oni naf ut
ureenergysy stem, i.
e.stati
onaryappl icationsin
powerpl ants( mai
nlydecent r
ali
sedcogener at i
on),andv ehi
clepr opulsion.

Ther ear esev eral differentf uel cell

technol ogypat hsbeingpur sued.These
dividei ntolowt emper at ureandhi ght emper at uret echnologi es.Lowt emper ature
technol ogies, includi ngphosphor i
cacid( PAFC)andpol ymerel ectrol y
t e
membr ane( PEMFC)f uel cell
s, t
argettranspor t
ation, port
abl epower ,and
l
ower -capaci t
ydi st
ribut edpowerappl ications.Hi ght emper aturet echnol ogies,
i
ncl udingmol tencar bonat e(MCFC)andsol idoxi de( SOFC)f uelcel l
s, focuson
l
ar gerst ati
onar ypowerappl i
cat ions,nichest at i
onar yanddi stri
but edpower ,and
certainmobi l
eappl ications( e. g.APU) .Acombi nat i
onoft echnol ogy
dev elopment sandmar ketfor ceswi l
ldet ermi newhi choft heset echnol ogi esar e
successf ul.Cur rently ,
phosphor icacidf uelcel l
sar et heonl ycommer cially
availabl efuel cells.Whi lemor et han200uni tsoft he200kW PC25f uel cell
manuf actur edbyUTCFuel Cel lsareinoper at i
onar oundt hewor ld, UTCdeci ded
recent lytost opt hepr oduct ionoft hePAFCf uel cell,becausecostt arget scoul d
notbeachi eved, andt of ocusonPEMFCdev elopmenti nthef uture.

2.
2Wor
kingofFuelCel
l
Figure1showst hebasicworki
ngpr inci
pleofahy drogenfuelcell.I
tconsi
stsof
twoel ectr
odesseparatedbyanel ectrol
y t
e.Whenhy drogengas, i
nchannels,
fl
owst otheanode,acataly
st(usuallyplati
num based)causest hehy dr
ogen
mol eculetospli
tint
oprotonsandel ectrons.Theseelectr
onsfollowanext er
nal
circui
ttot hecat
hode,whereasthepr otonsgetconduct edthr
ought heelectr
oly
te.
Thi
sfl
owofelect
ronsthr
ought
heext
ernal
cir
cui
tist
hepr
oducedel
ect
ri
cit
ythat
canbeusedt
odowor k.

Fi
g.2.
1wor
kingofhy
drogenf
uel
cel
l

2.
3Cl
assi
fi
cat
ionofHy
drogenFuelCel
ls
Inthissect i
on, wewi l
lbediscussi ngtheclassifi
cationcr it
erionofhy drogenf uel
cell
sf oll
owedbyadet ail
eddescr ipti
onofeachhy drogenf uelcel l
.Tabl e1
providesuswi t
ht hecl assif
icati
onoft hetypesofhy dr ogenf uel cell
st hatar e
curr
ent l
yi nuseanddev elopment .Fuel cel
lsareusual lyclassifieddependi ngon
theelect r
olytet hati susedi nthem, wit
honeexcept i
on: thedi rectmet hanol fuel
cell
inwhi chmet hanol i
sdirectl
yf edtot heanodei nt hecour seoft her eaction.
Methanol actsasaf uel i
ntheset ypesoff uelcellseli
mi nat i
ngt heneedt or eform
thefuel tohy drogen.Fuel cell
scanal sobecl assifi
edont hebasi sofoper at i
ng
temper aturef orthef uelcel
l.Alkalinefuelcell
s,Polymerel ectrolytemembr ane
fuelcell,dir
ectmet hanol f
uelcellandPhosphor icacidf uel ar
el owt emper ature
fuelcells:theoper atingtemper atureisbelow200° C.Mol tencar bonatef uel cell
s
andSol
idoxidef
uelcel
l
sarehight
emper
atur
efuel
cel
l
s,wi
thanoper
ati
ng
temper
atur
eofaround600-
1000℃

Tabl
e2.
1:Cl
assi
fi
cat
ionoff
uel
cel
l
s

2.
3.1St
ati
onar
yfuelcel
lsy
stems
Thef oll
owi ngsect i
onspr ovideanov er v
iewont hest ateofthear tandt he
currentmostr el
evantdevelopmentpat hswi t
hr egardt ostationar yf uelcell
s.
Whi l
et hereisst il
laconsiderablev ari
etyofcompet ingf uelcelltechnol ogies,
therear ecur rentl
ytwomai nfiel
dsofappl i
cati
onf orst ati
onaryf uelcell
s: small
scalehousesuppl yfuelcellheati
ngappl ianceswi thacapaci tyof1t o5kW, and
fuelcellsoft he200t o300kW cl asswhi chcanbeusedasadi st r
ictheat i
ngCHP
plantorf orpowerandheatsuppl yf orcommer cialorindust r
ial applicati
ons.Itis
possiblet hataf t
eraf i
rstsuccessful mar keti
ntegrationofhi ght emper aturefuel
cell
s( MCFC, SOFC)oft he300kW cl asst hesetechnol ogieswi llexpandt owards
themul t
i-
Megawat tclass.

Allthefuelcellsystemsdi scussedbelowareinav eryearlyphaseofmar ket

i
ntroduct i
on.TheUTC200kW PAFCi stheonlystati
onaryf uelcel
l system
commer ci
all
yav ail
able.Mostoft heothersyst
emsar ecur rentl
ytestedi nfiel
d
tri
alprograms;whi l
ef orsomef uelcel
l t
ypesther
eexi stonlyfir
st
proof-of
-conceptdemonst rat
ionplant
s.Asaconsequence, t
heav ail
abili
tyof
rel
iabledataispoor .Takingintoaccountthecontextofear lymarketi ntr
oduction,
i
tisobv i
oust hattechnicalandeconomi caldataarequi
tesensit
ive,andthusin
generalamat terofconf i
denti
ali
ty.I
tisdiff
icul
ttoassesstowhichext entspeci
fi
c
datapublishedbyf uelcellmanufactur
erscanbegener al
isedortransferr
edinto
anothercontext.Anydat aoncurrentinvestmentcostisuncert
ain,andthe
i
nformationont hecostst ruct
uregivenbydi ff
erentmanufact
urersseemst obe
part
lycont r
adict
ing.

Thedat agiveni nthef oll

owingsect i
onswascompi l
edlargelyduringar ecent
Germanr esear chprojectonl ongt erm per spect i
vesofst at
ionaryfuelcell
si n
Germany( Krewi t
tetal .2004).Thet echni cal dataandcostdat aunder lyi
ngt he
anal
y si
swer er evi
ewedi nawor kshopt hatt ookpl aceinJune2003i nStuttgart
,
wit
hpar ti
cipationfrom f uelcel
l manuf actur ersandut i
li
ti
es.Althought he
workshopdi dnotcl ai
mt oachiev eanexpl icitagreementoneachdat aset ,
workshoppar tici
pantsi ngener alagr eedt ot hebasicdatabaseusedi nthepr oj
ect.
Wet husconcl udethatanupdat edv ersionoft hedat abaseelaboratedin( Krewit
t
etal
.2004)i sasoundbasi sfort hef uturewor kinCASCADEMI NTS.

I
ti sdif
ficulttoderivereli
ableesti
mat esonoper ationandmai nt
enancecosts
fr
om t hecur rentpil
otanddemonst rat
ionplants.Weexpectt hatO&M costs
duringthef uel cel
lmarketintroduct
ionphasear ehi gherthanthoseofa
conv ent
ional CHPuni t,
butt hatonthel ungrunO&M cost sforthefuelcel
lsyst
em
arelowerbecauset herear elessmov i
ngcomponent s.Wet husassumegener i
c
O&M cost sthataresimi l
arforallt
ypesoff uelcell
s, whichare5%oft he
i
nv estmentcost speryeardur i
ngtheear lymarketintroduct
ionphase, and2%of
i
nv estmentcost speryearforamat uresy stem.

[
6]

2.
3.2Pol
ymerel
ect
rol
ytemembr
anef
uelcel
l(PEMFC)
I
nthi
ssect
ionwediscusst
hepol
ymerelectrol
y t
emembranefuel
cel
l(al
so
knownaspr
otonexchangemembranef
uel cell
).West
artwit
habasic
i
ntr
oducti
onofthef
uelcel
lfol
l
owedwi
tht
hespeci
fi
csoft
heel
ect
rodesand
el
ectr
oly
teusedint
hePEMFC.

PEMFCar eatypeofthelowtemperaturef
uelcel
lwithanoperati
ngt emper
ature
i
nt herangeof85℃-105℃.Thel owt emper
atureoperat
iondel
iversHughcurrent
densit
yandhi ghpowerdensity
.Thisall
owsthecellt
ohav eacompactdesign,
l
ightweightandfast
erresponseti
mewhencompar edtootherfuelcell
s.

Cel
lcomponent
sforPEMFC
Ast henamesuggest s,asolidpr otonexchangemembr anei susedasel ectr
olyt
e
i
naPEMFC.Thepr otonconduct ingmembr aneisani mpor tantcomponentoft he
fuelcell.Usingasol idel
ectroly
tehasi tsadv antages.Theseal i
ngoftheanode
andcat hodegasesbecomeseasi er,whichi nturnmakest hemanuf actur i
ng
economi cal
.Unl ikeliqui
delectrolytes,solidelectroly
t esarel esspronet o
corrosional l
owi ngt hesystem tohav elongercel landst ackl if
e.Figure2her e
showst hewor ki
ngofaPEMFC.Pl at
inum impr egnat edpor ousgasdi ffused
electrodesar eusual lyusedinPEMFCst oensur et her egul
arsuppl yofr eactant
gasest ot hesy stem.Thebackoft heelectrodesi scoat edwi t
h
polytetrafl
uoroet hyl
ene( PTFE)t hatpr ovidesawat erproofpat hfordiffusionof
gast ot hecat aly
st.Thegassuppl y,t
hecat al
ystpar t
icle,andt heionicconduct or
form at hree-phaseboundar y.

Membranesusual
lyoperat
einav eryl
imi
tedtemperat
urer ange.Nafi
oni
sthe
mostst
udiedmembr aneint
hePEMFCs[ 3]
.Membranesi nthisfuel
cel
lar
e
gener
all
yfil
l
edwithwaterthatkeepst
heconductiv
ityhigh.Thus,wat
er
managementbecomesmaj ori
ssueinthefuelcel
l
.Soli
dify
ingthegasescoming
 i
ntot
hef
uel
cel
lcansol
vet
hispr
obl
em

Fi
g.2.
2PEM

Fi
eldsofappl
icat
ion
Avariet
yofst ati
onar yPEM-fuelcellsystemsarebeingdev eloped( formobile
appli
cations).Vari
ousmanuf acturers(includi
nge.g.Buderus/IFC,HGC, I
DATECH,
Nuvera,Vai l
l
ant,PlugPower ,Bal
lard,Viessmann)aim atsmal lscalehousesuppl y
cogenerationsystemswi thacapaci tyof1t o5kW.Thef uelcellsystemsi n
generalrunonnat uralgas,andar eequippedwi t
hagasr eformeri ntegratedint
o
thesystem.Thesy stemsaredesi gnedt ooperat
et ofeedelectri
cit
yi ntotheuti
li
ty
gri
d(virt
ual powerplant).

Ball
ardGener
ationSyst
emsdev elopedast
ati
onaryPEMFCgeneratorwitha
capacit
yof250kW (P2B-PEM-FC).Thesyst
em isdesignedt
odel
iverpowertothe
onsi
tepowergridandtoprovi
deheat .Af
iel
dtr
ialprogrammewit
hsev er
aluni
ts
i
nstal
ledi
ntheUSandEuropewasl
aunchedi
n1999,
andi
sexpect
edt
ocont
inue
unt
il2004(
Ball
ard2004)
.

Techni
caldat
a

Table2.2:Technicaldat
aofPEMFCsy stemssummar i
sest hekeyt echnical
data
ofPEMFCsy stemsusedf orthetwodiffer
entt y
pesofappl icati
ondescr i
bed
above.Dataar ebasedonar evi
ewoftechni caldatapublishedf r
om t hevari
ous
manufacturers.I
tshouldbenot edt
hattheel ectr
ical
,ther
mal andov eral
l
eff
ici
encydependont heint
endedapplicati
onoft hesy st
em ( e.
g.levelofheat
supply
).

Withr egar dtot hehousesuppl ysystem, therear edataav ail

ablee.g.from the
Vail
lantsf ieldtri
al progr ammei nEurope, whichi ssuppor tedbyt heEur opean
Commi ssi on.TheVai l
lantsy stem i
sbasedonaPEM-f uelcellprovidedbyPl ug
Power .At otalof31Vai llantfuel-
cellheatingappl ianceshav ebeeni nstall
edby
nowi nsev eralEuropeancount ri
esandl inkedwi theachot herv i
aacont rolcentr
e
toanaly sehowf uel cellscanber unasav irt
ual powerpl ant .13unitsofa4. 7kW
system ( “EURO1”v ersion)wer einst
alledi nthef i
rsthalfof2003, andt he
i
nstall
at ionoff urther43uni ts(“EURO2” )startedinNov ember2003.Measur ement
datafrom t heEURO2sy stemssuggestt hatanel ectri
cal effi
ciencyofupt o31%
andat ot al eff
ici
encyof88- 89%canbeachi ev ed.Thel if
etimeoft hest acki s
currentlyabout6,000h, accordi
ngt oVai ll
antastacklifet
imeof12,000hseems
tober eal i
sti
cwithanaccept abledegr adati
on(Kli
nder2003) .Thereareno
publ i
sheddat aav ail
ableont hesy stemsav ail
abil
i
ty.Measur eddataf r
om the
Ballard250kW P2B- PEM- FCoperatedi nBerli
nsinceJune2000, whi chwasthe
fi
rstsy stem inst
alledi nEurope,i
ndi catethatanelectr
icalneteff
ici
encyof33t o
34%wasachi ev
ed, wi t
hat otal
ef f
iciencyofmor ethan70%( Pokojski2001)
.The
targetelectri
calefficiencyofapr essur i
sedsystem is40%.

Theavai
l
abil
i
tyoft
hefi
rstpi
l
otpl
antduri
ngt
hef i
rstt
imeofoperat
ionwasst
il
l
l
ow.Therear
enodataopentot
hepubli
constackdegradat
ion.

Economi
cdat
a
Thecostoft hePl ugPower5kW f uel cel
l,whichi susede.g.i
nt heVai l
lant
system,i
sabout55, 000$,thespecifi
ccost sar ethus11,000$/ kW (FuelCell
Today2002) .PlugPowerexpect sthatst i
l
l4t o7y ear
sarerequi redunti
laf uel
cell
heatappl i
ancesy stem i
saneconomi call
yv iableopti
onfort heend-use
costumer.SinceJanuar y2001,Vail
lantcouldr educet hemanuf acturi
ngcost sof
i
tsfuelcell
sy stem by50%wi t
hin1.5y ears(Klinder2002).Targetcostsf orthe
Vail
lantf
uelcell heatappl
iancesystem aregiv enas1, 500€/kW.

Basedonadet ai
ledcost
sanal
ysi
s,Siemensconcludesthatassuminga
product
ionv ol
umeof50,000unit
spery eart
hecostsfortheindi
vi
dual
component sofa5kW PEMFCsy stem amounttoatleast1,550€/kW.I
twas
assumedt hatthestackwit
h100€/ kW cont
ri
but
est oonlyabout6%ofthet
otal
system cost
s(Kabs2002) .

Datafrom Viessmanni ndi

catethatt
hemat er
ialcost
sforthecurr
ent2kW
protot
ypeare6, 100€/ kW i
faproductvol
umeof10, 000unit
spery eari
sachieved,
themat er
ialcostsofthestackcontr
ibut
eabout20%oft hetotal
mat eri
alcosts
(Bri
tz2003).Ther ef
ormercostscontri
butetoabout8to10%oft het ot
alcost
s.

ThetotalcostoftheBall
ard250kW P2B-PEM-FCpil
otplantwhichwasputinto
oper
ationinJune2000i nBerl
inwasabout3.8Mill€,
wit
habout5%oft hetotal
cost
sal l
ocatedforplanni
ngandotherser
vices(
Pokoj
ski2001).Thespeci
fi
c
syst
em cost
swer
ethusabout14,
000€/
kW.Ther
ear
enodat
aav
ail
abl
eon
oper
ati
onandmaint
enancecost
.

Accordi
ngto(Schmidtetal
.,2002),st
ackcostsofar
ound30$/ kW canbe
achi
evedinanautomatedmasspr oduct
ion,
leadi
ngtosystem costsofabout100
to200€/ kW.Wetakethisoptimist
icviewasanindi
cati
onoff l
oorcostsfor
smallscal
e(1-
5kW)PEM- sy
stemsf orhouseappli
cat
ions.

2.
3.3Di
rectMet
hanolf
uelcel
ls
Iti
sact uall
yasubsetofPolymerel ectrolytemembr anef uelcell
s,andist y
picall
y
usedf orsmallport
ableappl
icat
ionshav ingl owoperatingtemperature.Met hanol
i
sdirect l
yfedtotheanodeinthesef uelcells.Thi
seliminatestheneedf oraf uel
ref
ormert oconvertthefuel
tohy drogen.Thi smakest heDMFCav er
ypr omi si
ng
candidateforport
ablepowersour ces, electri
cvehi
clesandt ransport
ation
appli
cat i
on.TheworkingofaDMFCi ssimi lartot
hatoft hePEMFCandi talso
usesasel ecti
vemembr aneasitsel ectrolyt
e.

TheDi r
ectMet hanolFuelCell(DMFC)i sav ari
antofPr ot onExchangeMembr ane
Fuel Cell(PEMFC) ,i
nthesenset hatitusest hesamet ypeofsol idpoly
mer
electrol
ytemembr aneasasepar at
orbet weent heelectrodesi ntheunitcel
l.I
t
diff
er sfrom PEMFCbecausei tusesunr eformedl i
quidmet hanolfuelr
atherthan
hydr ogen.ADMFCdi rectl
yconv ert
smet hanol andoxy geni ntocarbondioxi
deand
wat erwhi l
eproducingelectr
ici
tyandheat .DMFCsoper ateatsl i
ghtl
yhigher
temper aturesthanPEMFCsi .
e.,between60and130° C.

AnodeCH3OH+H2O?CO2+6H++6e— (
1)

Cat
hodeO2+4H++4e— ?2H2O(
2)

Ov
eral
l2CH3OH+3O2?2CO2+4H2O(
3)
Thepur emet hanol i
sei therpumpedasanaqueoussol utionormi xedwi t
hwat er
steam andf eddirectlytot hecel
lsanode.Her emet hanol i
selectrochemi call
y
oxidi
zedintocar bondi oxideformingsixprotonsandsi xel ectr
onspermol e(1)
.
Theelectronsarepushedr oundanext er
nalcircuitwhil
stthe( hydrated)protons
crossthemembr aneint heform ofhydroni
um i onsH3O+, asinstandar dPEMFCs.
Atthecat hode,thepr otonsandel ectr
onscombi newithoxy gen(basi cal
lyfrom ai
r)
toproducewat er( 2).Theov eral
lreacti
onleadst otheliberati
onofonemol ecule
ofCO2permol ecul eofCH3OH: consequently,itisnotacar bondi oxide-
freeorso
call
ed“ zeroemi ssion”pr ocess.

Despiteitsknownt oxici
ty,met hanol i
sar athersuit
ablefuel f
orf uelcell
appli
cat i
ons.Itisoneoft hef ewor ganiccompounds( i
ncludingpur ehy drogen,
gl
ycol, ammoni acandhy drazinef orexampl e)tobeeasilyoxidizedatr elativ
ely
l
owt emper atures.Butduet ot hel ow-temper atur
econv ersi
onofmet hanol t
o
hydrogenandcar bondi oxi
de, theDMFCsy stem li
kePEMFC, requiresanobl e
metal catal
yst.Thecostassoci atedwi ththiscatalysti
sov erbalancedbyt he
abil
i
tyoft heuni tt
or unwi thoutar eformingsy stem.Liquidmet hanol isoften
consideredtobeeasi ertot r
anspor tandsuppl ytothepubl icusingcur rent
hydrocarbonf uelinfr
astructuret hanhy dr
ogen.

Themet hanol oxidationr eact ionhasat hermody nami cpot enti

al verycl oset o0V
vs.NHE( 0.02V)t hust het heor eticalopenci rcui tvoltageofaDMFCi sabout1. 2
Vandt heachi evableef f
ici encyi scompar ablewi thhy drogen-basedsy stems.
Howev er,thepr ocessofconv er ti
ngmet hanol isnotassi mpl east hatof
conv erti
nghy drogen; consequent ly,theav eragepowerdensi t
yofamet hanol -
fed
DMFCi sl owert hant hatofhy dr ogen-fedPEMFC( »40%) .I
nr eali
tytheanodi c
reactionisamul ti
-steppr ocesswi t
hcar bonmonoxi deCOasani ntermedi at
e.
Thef ormat ionofCOcausest hesamepr oblemsast hoseor igi
nat i
ngf rom
hydrocar bonr eformi ngpr ocesses; therefore, t
hedev elopmentofCO- tol erant
anodecat alystsisal sor equi redf orDMFCappl ications.I npar t
icular,theuseof
plati
num- r
utheni um al l
oy shasbeenqui t
esuccessf ul.Butt heoxidat ionr ateof
met hanol onPt -
basedmet alsr emai nsv erylowandhi ghercat alystloadi ngsar e
requiredt hanf orPEMFCel ectrodes: typicalloadi ngsar eabout5mg/ cm- 2for
met alblacks.Theuseofcar bon- suppor tedcat alystsr aisest heconcer nof
i
ncreasedt hicknessest hatl eadt ounaccept ablyhi ghl ayerresist
ance, hencel ow
eff
ici
ency.Apossi
blesol
uti
onwouldbetheuseofhi
ghl
yconduct
ivepor
ous
carbonsuppor
tssuchascarbonnanof
iber
sandnanot
ubes.

Fi
g2.
3Di
rectmet
hanol

2.
3.4Al
kal
ineFuelcel
l
Isal owt emper aturefuelcellthatwasamongstt hef i
rstfuelcell
st obeusedi n
theApol lospacemi ssionsthatledt oi tsapplicationintheEur opeanHer mes
Project[ 3,4].TheAFCusesaqueoussol ut
ionofpot assium hydroxideas
electrolyteandPt -Co(Plati
num- Cobal t)andPt -Pd(Plati
num Palladium)al l
oys
electrodes.Maj oroper ati
ngconst raintsforAFCsar et hattheywor kwel lonl
ywith
pur egasesandi trequiresforlowcar bondi oxideconcent rat
ionsi nthefeed.
AFCsar eknownt ohav ethehi ghestel ectr
ical eff
ici
encyamongf uelcell
s,but
i
nt erestint heset ypesoff uelcell
shasdi mi ni
shedov erthey ear
sast heywere
consi deredt oocost lyforcommer cial appl
icationsandal sothereareno
significantadv antagesov erPEMFCs.
Moder nAl kali
neFuel Cel l
s(AFCs)ar eclassifi
edasl ow- temper aturefuel
cell
s.
Theyoper atebet ween60and90° Canduseanal kali
neel ectrolytesuchas
potassium hy droxi
de, usuallyinasol ut
ionofwat er.I
nanal kali
nef uelcel
l,
hydroxylionsar eproducedatt hecat hode( 2)andmi gratet ot heanodesi de,
wheret heyr eactwithhy drogen( 1).Partoft hewat erformedatt heanode
di
ffusest ot hecathode, wher eitreactswi t
hoxy gent of orm hy droxyli
onsina
continuouspr ocess.Theov erallreacti
onpr oduceswat erandheatasby -
product
s
andgener atesf ourelectronspermol eofoxy gen(3),whi cht rav elvi
aanexternal
ci
rcuitproduci ngtheel ectr
icalcur r
ent.

Anode2H2+4OH— ?4H2O+4e— (
1)

Cat
hodeO2+2H2O+4e— ?4OH— (
2)

Ov
eral
lO2+2H2?2H2O(
3)

TheOxy genReduct ionReact i

on(ORR)i sacompl expr ocessinvol
vingsev eral
coupl edpr otonandel ectrontransfersteps.Inacidsol uti
ons,theORRr eactionis
electrocat alyt
ic,andaspHbecomesal kali
ne,redoxpr ocessesinvolving
super oxi
deandper oxideionsstarttoplayar ol
eanddomi nateinstronglyal kal
i
medi a.Ther eacti
oni nalkal
ineelectrol
ytesmayst opwi ththeformationoft he
relati
velyst ableHO2— sol v
atedion( 4),whichinsteadofbei ngfurt
herr educed
i
nt ohy droxy li
ons( 5),canalsobedecomposedt odi oxygenandhy droxy lions(6).
Althought her eisnoconsensusont heact ualr
eact i
onsequence, twodi fferent
pat hwayst akepl aceatt hecathodei nalkali
nemedi a:

Di
rect4-
elect
ronpat
hway

O2+2H2O+4e— ?4OH— (
2)

Per
oxi
deor“
2+2-
elect
ron”pat
hway

O2+H2O+2e— ?HO2— +OH— (

4)

wi
thHO2— +H2O+2e— ?3OH— (
5)

or2HO2— ?2OH— +O2(

6)
Thekineti
csoftheORRr eact
ionismorefacil
einalkali
nemedi um thaninacid
mediasuchasH2SO4.Consequent ly,
theuseofnon- preciousmet alsl
ikenickeli
s
possi
ble.Thankstothi
scompar at
ivel
yhi
ghel ectr
ochemi calrateatthecathode,
AFCsunitscanattai
noverall
elect
ri
calef
fi
cienciesgreaterthanmostot herfuel
cel
lty
pes( 50-
70%).

Duet othef asterkineti

csf ortheORRi nalkali
nemedia,awi der angeofcat al
ysts
havebeenst udiedincludingnoblemet al
s,non-noblemetals,per ovskites,
spinels,
etc.Thecat alyt
icact i
vit
yoft hesyst
em alsodependsont hephy si
co- chemical
characteri
sticsoft hecarbonsuppor tandt hedeposit
ionmet hod.Hi ghcatalyt
ic
acti
vityrel
iesonav er
yf i
neandwel ldi
sper sedcatal
ystparti
cle.Int hecaseof
plati
num, t
hepar t
iclesizeisgeneral
lyinthenanomet rerange.

Potassium hy droxidesoluti
on( KOH)isal mostexclusivelyusedast heelectrol
yte
becausei thasahi gherionicconductiv
itythansodi um hydroxidesol ut
ion,and
potassium car bonat ei
slesslikel
yt opreci
pitatet
hansodi um carbonate.
Concent r
ationst ypical
l
yr angebet ween6and8mol L-
1i .
e.,30-40wt %KOHi n
wat er
.Concent r
atedaqueouspot assi
um hy droxi
dei snon- f
reezing,whichallows
quickstartandoper ati
onatsub- zeroconditi
ons.Howev er,i
tishi ghl
ycor r
osive
andcancauseseal ingissuesofgascompar tments.

Themai ndrawbackofAFCsi sthei rsensitivi

tytocar bondi oxi
def r
om air .Carbon
dioxi
deisabsorbedbyt heel ectrolytetof orm car bonatei onsCO32- ,whichar e
l
essconduct i
vethanhy droxylions.Thi sleadst oanov eralldegradat i
onof
el
ectrol
yteproperti
es.Thef ormat ionofpr ecipit
atedpot assi um carbonateK2CO3
canalsoleadtothebl ockageoft heel ectrolytepathway sandel ectrodepor es,
anddecreasecell l
i
feti
me.Foref fectiveoper at i
onitisther eforenecessar yto
purif
ythegasesf edtothecel l
.Si ncemostmet hodsf orgener atinghy dr
ogen
fr
om otherfuelsproducesomecar bondi oxide,thisneedf orpurehy drogenhas
sl
oweddownwor konAFCsi nr ecenty ears.

Inmostt err
estri
alappli
cati
ons, t
heKOHel ectrol
yteisci
rcul
atedthr
oughthestack,
anoptionwhi chhassomeadv antagesoverthealternat
ivei
mmobi l
izedsyst
ems
chosenf orspaceapplicati
onssuchasApol loandt heSpaceshuttl
e.Theuseofa
cir
cul
atingelectr
olyteall
owst hermalandwat ermanagementt obeeasil
y
contr
olled.I
tprovidesav erysimpleandeffecti
vewayofcool i
ngthestackvi
aa
heatexchanger.Moreov
er,i
mpuri
ti
es( e.
g.carbonfrom electr
odesorcar
bonates)
canbeeasi l
yremoved,makingt
hecircul
ati
ngel ect
roly
t esyst
emslesssensi
ti
ve
toCO2poi soni
ngthantheimmobil
izedelect
rolytesystems.

Theelect roly
tecircul
ati
onloopconsistsofaKOHt ank,apumpandaheat
exchanger .Duringstart
-uptheKOHi sheatedtothedesiredoperati
ng
temper ature,ty
picall
y70°C.Anairblowerfor
cesairintoaCO2scr ubber(
usually
containingsodal ime),f
rom wher
et heairi
sdi r
ect
edt otheairi
nlet
.Theoutletai
r
i
sdirect l
yexhaust edtotheatmospherewher easthehydrogenisrecir
cul
atedor
dead-ended.[ 7]

Fi
g2.
4Al
kal
i
nef
uel
cel
l
.

2.
5FuelCel
lSy
stemsf
orAut
omot
iveAppl
icat
ion
2.
5.1Pol
ymerEl
ect
rol
yteFuelCel
l(PEFC)Sy
stem
Basi
cmechani
sm
Thebasicmechanism ofpoly
merel ect
roly
temembr anefuelcel
ls(PEFC)is
descri
bedinsect
ion1.1.1.Onstati
onaryfuelcel
lsyst
ems.Foraut omoti
ve
appli
cati
onsPEFCcanbeappl iedalso,howeverthemaindiff
erencebetween
stat
ionar
yandautomot i
veapplicat
ionsli
esinthehighdegreeofintegr
ati
onof
syst
em componentsinor dert
ocompl ywiththeavail
abl
espacei napassenger
car.

Inordertooper ateaf uelcell

stackingener al,
supplementarytechnical
equipmenti snecessar y.Theseequipmenti scomposedofast ackcool ing
syst
em, acathodeai rsupplycompr essor,sensorsandcontrolvalves.Inaddit
ion
socal l
edancill
arycomponent sorBal anceofplant(BOP)andef fortsareneeded
tooper at
ethef uelcellstackwithi
nanappl i
cati
on:e.g.anelect
roniccont r
oll
er,a
star
t-upbattery,el
ectricalequi
pment ,safetyequipmentandsy stem packaging.
Thef i
gurebelowi ll
ustratessuchaPEFCsy stem wit
hthestackandt he
surr
oundi ngcont r
ols.
 Fi
gur
e2.
5:1.
5kW PEFCsy
stem (
Sour
ce:
DLR-
FK)

Fi
eldsofappl
icat
ion
Polymerelectrol
ytef
uel cellstacksar eprefer
ablyusedinf uelcellengi
neswhich
aredesi
gnedt obeeasi l
yi ntegratedintoelectr
icvehi
cles.Today ,mostofthefuel
cell
demonst rati
onvehiclesar ecustom bui l
dwi t
hanindividualint
egrati
onof
component sinthevehicle.Dev elopmentt owardsmodul ar
isati
onandsy st
em
i
ntegrat
ionhowev eri
st hewayf orwardinthefuturei
nor dertofitintheconcept
ofautomobilemanuf acturing.

Fuel
cellenginesty
pical
lyconsi
stofthesystem modul
e,thestackmodul
e,a
cont
rol
uni t
,powerdistr
ibut
ionuni
t(PDU)andacool i
ngpump, asshowninFigur
e
1.7f
rom Ball
ard.Ball
ardist
odaytheworldleaderasafuelcel
lsyst
em i
ntegr
ator
.

Fi
gur
e2.
6:Li
ghtdut
yfuel
cel
lengi
neXcel
l
sisHY-
80f
rom Bal
l
ard

Todateasmallf
leetoff
uelcel
lvehicl
eshasbeendemonst rated(seeTabl
e1.12
forv
ehicl
esoft
het i
me2001-2003).Howevernof uel
cel
lvehiclei
scommer ci
all
y
avai
labl
eyet
.Thenextgener
ati
onofdemonst rat
ionvehi
clesisexpectedtobe
i
ntroducedbetween2005-2007.Commer ci
all
yavai
lablefuelcel
lvehicl
esare
expectedtobemanufacturedaft
er2012.Marketpenetrati
onhowev erdepends
onsev er
alot
herfact
orsli
kee.g.theexi
stenceofahy drogensupplyinf
rast
ruct
ure.

Tabl
e2.
3:Hy
drogenf
uel
cel
ldemonst
rat
ionv
ehi
cles2001-
2003.

Techni
caldat
a
Pol
ymerel
ect
rol
ytef
uelcel
lst
acks.
Consider ableimpr ovement sinpowerdensi t
ieshav ebeenachi evedinPEFC
stackst hroughr eductionofel ectrolyt
ethicknessandar chit
ecturalcontrolofthe
composi t
eel ectrodes.Cur rentresearchef fort
saret ar
getedondev eloping
water-freemembr anes.Thist echnologysi gnif
icant
lyreducest hesy stem
compl exityandwoul dr esultinlower i
ngcost s.Asecondt argetistoi ncreasethe
operationt emper aturef r
om atpr esent70° Ct oabout150- 170°C.Higheroper ati
ng
temper aturesr esul ti
nhi gheref fi
ciencyandgr eaterfuelfl
exibi
lit
yduet o
enhancedel ectrodeact ivi
ty(Haile2003) .Thiswoul dsolvealsocur r
ent l
yexisti
ng
problemswi tht hecat alystandhel pt oreducepl ati
num loadings.State-of-t
he-ar
t
pl
ati
num l
oadi
ngsar
e0.3mgPt/cm2forpur
ehy
drogenasf
uel
,whi
l
eforr
efor
mat
0.
6mgPt /cm2ar
eused(Ri
ce2004)
.

Ref
ormer
s
Directhy drogenal lowsf orsi mpl ersy stem architecturebutst oragepr oblems
l
imi ttheoper ati
onr angeofv ehicles.Theuseofsmal lr
eformer st opr oduce
hydr ogenonboar dofFCVscoul dov ercomet hisandomi tmaj ori nfrastructure
changesandt hussuppor tthet ransi tiont owardsf uel cellpropul sionatl owcost s.
Onboar dr eformer sconv ertal iquid( orot hergaseousf uel)tohy drogen, however
natur algasr efor mingismor edi fficultt hanl i
quidr eforming, andt herefor e
resear chhasf ocusedonl iqui dsr efor mi ngsof ar.Met hanol refor mingi salso
possi ble,howev ertocheckwhet herr ef ormingi seconomi callyapossi bil
it
yatal l
,
CASCADEf ocusesongasol i
ner ef ormer s.Iti
sal soi mpor t
antt onot et hatthe
fundi ngf orR&Dofonboar df uelpr ocessi ngint heUShasbeenr ecent l
ysev er
ely
reducedsi ncei twasj udgeduncer taini fthetechni calgoalscanber eachedunt i
l
2015.Thei ndependentr eviewpanel concl uded, t
hatduet otheadv ancedst at
eof
compet ingt echnology( gasol ineI CE/ bat teryhybrids)on- boardr ef ormi ng
technol ogydoesnotof fercl earadv ant agesov erhy bri
dv ehiclet echnol ogy
availablet oday( DoETeam Repor t,2004) . showskeyt echnical dat af orgasoline
reformer s.
 Tabl
e2.
4:Techni
cal
dat
aforgasol
i
ner
efor
mer
s

Chapt
er3
Hy
drogenpr
oduct
ion
3.
1 Hy
drogenPr
oduct
ionOpt
ions
Hy drogeni sahi ghqual i
tysecondar yenergycar r
ier,notapr imar yf uel,
andt hus
hast obepr oducedf rom pr i
mar yenergysour cessuchast her mal orelectri
c
power .Hy drogencanbemadef rom av ari
etyofwi delyav ailablef eedstocks,
i
ncl udingv ari
ousf ossilandr enewabl eenergysour ces( Figur e3. 1).Todayal most
50%ofhy drogeni spr oducedbyst eam met haner eforming, whichf orl
argescal e
hydr ogenpr oducti
oni st hemosteconomi calroute.Tocompl ywi thkey
sust ai
nabilit
ytargets( cl
imat eprotection,pr
otectionofnon- renewabl eresources),
af uturehydr ogeneconomywi llhowev erbebasedonal ternat ivehy drogen
product i
onopt i
ons.Thef ol
lowingsect ionsreviewt hecur rentt echni caland
economi cstatusofhy drogenpr oductiontechnologi es,t
aki ngi ntoaccountt heir
respect i
vepot enti
al f
orf utureprospect sforimprov ement .
Fi
g3.
1:Hy
drogenpr
oduct
ionPat
h

3.
2Hy
drogenf
rom Wat
er
3.
2.1El
ect
rol
ysi
s
Basi
cmechani
sm
Wateri
selectr
oly
sedinanelectr
ochemical
cel
ltopr
oducehydrogenandoxygen.
Waterel
ectr
olysi
swasoneoft hemainmeansofhydrogenpr
oducti
onbefor
et he
st
eam ref
ormingprocesswasintr
oduced.

Watercanbeel ect
rol
ysedbypassingdirectcurrent(DC)thr
oughi ti
nthe
pr
esenceofasui tabl
eelect
rol
yte,
causingposi t
ivelychar
gedhydrogenionsto
migr
atetot henegati
vel
ychargedcathode, wheretheyreducetoform hydr
ogen.
Si
milar
ly,oxygenisfor
medatt heposit
ivelychargedanode.Chemi cal
lyi
nert
conduct
orssuchasplat
inum ar
eusedaselect
rodest
oav
oidunwant
edr
eact
ions
andtheproduct
ionofi
mpurit
iesint
hehydr
ogengas.

Anode:
2H2OO2+4H++4e-

Cat
hode:
4H++4e-2H2

Ov
eral
lreact
ion:
2H2O2H2+O2

Thr
eediff
erentpr
ocessv
ersi
onshav
ebeendev
elopedf
orel
ect
rol
yti
cwat
er
di
ssoci
ati
on:

 Alkal
inewat
erel
ectr
olyser
sareinusecommerci
all
yforl
ongti
mes.
Alkali
neel
ect
rol
yser
swor katat
mosphericorl
owpressur
e(0-
8bar
)orat
pressure(
upto30bar).

 ProtonExchangeMembr ane(PEM)el ect

rolyser
s( rev erser eact i
onof
PEM- fuel cell
)useanor gani cmembr aneinsteadofal kalineaqueous
soluti
on, whi chl eadst oasi gnifi
cantv olumer eduction.PEM el ectrolysers
exhibi
thi gheref fi
ciencywhi l
eoper ati
ngatsi gnif
icantlyhi ghercur rent
densiti
eswhencompar edt otheadv ancedal kali
neel ect rolysers( but
system cost sar est i
l
lver yhigh,seebel ow).Mi t
subishi Cor porationi s
developingaHi gh-pressur eHy drogenEner gyGener ator( HHEG) ,whi chis
basedonapr otonexchangemembr anest ackinahi ghpr essurev essel,
whichst or eshi gh-compr essedhy drogengener atedbyel ect rol
y sis.The
advant ageoft hesy stem i sthatitproduceshi gh-pressur ehy drogenbyi tsel
f
withoutt heneedf orfurthercompr essi
on.

 High- temperaturest eam el ectrol

ysisoper atesbet ween700and1000oC,
usingoxy genion-conduct ingst abil
isedZr O2- cer
ami csasanel ectroly
te
(r
ev er sereacti
onofSol idOxi deFuel Cell)
.Thewat ert
obedi ssociatedis
ent er edont hecat hodesi deasst eam, whi chf or
msast eam hydrogen
mi xtur eduri
ngelect r
olyticdi ssoci
ation( Wi nterandNi tsch1988) .The
dissoci ati
onofst eam t heor eti
call
yr equiresl esselectri
calenergyt hanthe
dissoci ati
onofwat er.Theener gyrequi redf orwat erevaporati
oncanbe
suppl iedbyt her
mal energyandt husal lowst heuseofv ari
ousener gy
sour ces.Thedr iv
ingf orcef ort hedev elopmentoft hehigh-t
emper ature
 electr
olysisprocessint he1980swast ousewast eheatfr
om hi gh
temper aturenuclearreactorsforhydr
ogenpr oducti
on,butmostr esearch
activi
ti
eswer ereducedsi gnifi
cantl
ysincet hen.Becauseoft he
i
mpr ovement sinSol i
dOxi deFuel Cel
ltechnologies,t
hereisanewi nter
est
i
nt histechnology,whichcanbecombi nedwi thhightemperat uresolarheat.
SolidOxideFuel Cells(SOFC)usedi nel ect
rolysi
smode, cal
ledSol i
dOxi de
Electr
olyserCells(SOEC) ,hasthepotent i
altobecomeanef ficient
electr
olysertechnology.

[
8]

Fi
eldsofappl
icat
ion
Electrolysi
sisscaleablefrom fewNm3/ ht osev eral10,
000Nm3/ h,sot hati t
canbeusedf ordecent r
ali
sedon- si
tehydrogenpr oducti
onaswel l asf orlarge
scalecent ral
isedhy dr
ogenpl ants.On-si
tehy drogenpr oducti
oncanuseexi sti
ng
electr
icalinfr
ast r
uctureandhast headvantaget hatnoaddi t
ionalinfrastruct ur
e
forhydr ogendi st
ri
butionisrequired.Duetot heirflexi
bil
i
tyinoperat i
on( star tand
stopondemand)el ectrol
yserscansuppor tthel oadmanagementi nt heel ectri
cit
y
gridandt husf acil
it
atetheintegrati
onoffluctuatingener gysources.

Becauseoft headdit
ional hightemperatureheatrequi
rement sf r
om anuclear
reactororasol arther
mal faci l
i
ty,ear
lyprocessdesignstudiesforahi gh
temper aturesteam el
ectrolysisprocessassumedahy drogenpr oducti
oncapacit
y
ofsev eral10,000Nm3/ h( Dönitz1988).ASol i
dOxideElect r
oly
serCell wi
ll
be
scaleableov erabroadcapaci t
yrange,thusalsoal
lowingt hedecentrali
sed
hydrogenpr oducti
on.

Techni
caldat
a
Asment i
onedbef ore,
thecapacityofelectr
oly
sersisscaleablefrom small-
scal
e
onsi t
ehy drogenproducti
ontol arge-
scalecentr
ali
sedhydrogenpl antsnearthe
electr
ici
tysource.Theef f
ici
encyoft heprocessislar
gel
yunaf fectedbythe
variat
ioninsize(EUCAR2003) , sothatwedonothav etodi f
ferentiat
ebetween
diff
erentsizeclasses.Theoutletpressur
eofcommer ci
all
yav ail
ablepressur
ised
elect
roly
sersrangebetween1.
1and30bar ,andtheeff
ici
encyrangesbet
ween62
and70%r elat
edtotheLHVofthedel
iver
edhy drogen(
seee.g.EUCAR2003;
StuartEnergy2004;BOC2004)
.Futur
elongt er
m devel
opmentsareexpect
edto
resul
tinanef f
ici
encyofcl
oseto80%( Dr
eierandWagner,2000).

Membr aneel ectrol yser sar est i

lli
nthedev elopmentst age.Av er sioni sof fered
byPr otonEner gySy stems, USA, f
orthepr oductionoful t
ra-highpur i
tyhy drogen
gasf orindust r
ialandl abor atoryapplications, buttheener gyefficiencyof45%i s
ratherlow( Proton2004) ,andt heli
fetimeoft hestackisonl y3t o4y ear s.
MitsubishiCor por ationr ecent l
yannouncedt hesuccessf ul applicat i
onoft he
High-pressur eHy dr ogenEner gyGener ator(HHEG)pr ototypePERM- electrolyser
(Mitsubishi2004) , pr oduci nghy dr
ogenatapr essur eofupt o350barwi thouta
compr essor .Thecapaci tyoft hepr ot
ot ypeis2. 5Nm3/ h,andMi tsubi shi plansto
hav eacommer cial pr oductwi thacapaci tyof30Nm3/ handapr essur eof400
barav ail
ableint henexty ears.Ther ear ecur r
ent l
ynodat aav ai
labl eonef fi
ciency,
stacklifet
ime, orcost sofHHEGsy stem.

Benchscal etest
sandapi lotplantdesignofahi ght emper aturest eam
electrolysisprocesshav ebeenper f
ormedi nthe1980si npart i
cularinGermany,
butr esear chacti
v i
ti
eswer esl oweddown( hi
ghcosts, ter
mi nationoft hehi
gh
temper at urenuclearreactorpr ogrammei nGermany ).Asdi scussedabov e,
currentresear chact i
vit
ies(e.g.atRI SO,Denmar k)onhi ghtemper ature
electrolysisfocusonSol i
dOx ideEl ect
rolyserCell
s.Thespl itt
ingofst eam i
nto
hydrogenandoxy genat1000oCi naSOFCoper atedi ntheel ectrol
ysismodehas
beensuccessf ul
l
ydemonst r
atedi nthelaborator
y(Jensenetal .2003).The
durabi l
it
yoft hesy stem ishowev erli
mited,andmuchmor ewor kisnecessaryto
achiev eanaccept ablel
ifeti
meoft hecells.

3.
3Hy
drogenf
rom Fossi
lFuel
s
3.
3.1Nat
uralgasst
eam r
efor
ming
Basi
cmechani
sm
Steam reformingofnaturalgas(
SMR)i sthemostcommonl yusedprocessf
or
producinghy dr
ogeni nl
argequanti
ti
es.Naturalgasi
sreact
edwi thst
eam at
elevat
edt emper at
ures(>800oC)inthepresenceofanickelcatal
yst
.The
reacti
onpr oduct(syn-
gas)isamixtur
eofhy drogenandcarbonmonoxi de:

CxHy+xH2O xCO+(
x+y
/2)H2

Thesyngasfrom t
heref
ormeri
scool
edandfedt
oawat er
-gasshif
treact
ori
n
whichcarbonmonoxider
eact
swithst
eam ov
eracat
aly
sttohydrogenand
carbondi
oxide:

xCO+xH2O xCO2+xH2

Toachi
evepur
ehydrogen,
thegasi
sfi
nal
l
ycl
eanedi
napr
essur
eswi
ng
absor
pti
onuni
t(PSA)(Fi
gur
e3.2)
.

Anov elconceptcal ledSorpti

onEnhancedReact i
onPr ocess( SERP)aimsat
developingamor ecost -
eff
ectivesteam met hanereformingpr ocess.The
react
ant sst eam andmet hanear efedat440- 550oCi ntoar eactorcontai
ningan
admixt ur
eofr eformingcatalystandanadsor bentforremov ingcarbondioxide
from ther eactionzone( Reij
ersetal .2003,Huftonetal.2000) .Thepotenti
al
benefitfrom t hisprocessisthepr oductionofhy dr
ogenatr elativ
elyhi
ghpur i
ty(∼
90%H2)di rectl
yfrom thereactor,thusleadingtoar educti
onorev enel
iminati
on
ofdownst ream hy drogenpurifi
cati
onst eps.

Möl leretal
.( Mölleretal.2004)suggestt hatfuelsavingofupt o40%canbe
achiev edbyusi ngasol arreformi ngpr ocess,whi chprov i
despr ocessheatby
solarener gy
.Theof f-
gas, whichisbur nttoprov i
deprocessheati nthe
conv enti
onal process,canber ecy cled,whichincreasest heov eral
lprocess
eff
iciencyandr educesCO2emi ssi ons.Aconcent r
ati
ngsol arsy st
em witha
hel
iost atfi
eldandasol artoweri susedt osuppl yhight emperaturesolarprocess
heat.Af ir
stpr oofofconceptsol arv olumet r
icreactorreceiverhasbeent ested
(Mölleretal.2004) .
 Fi
gur
e3.
2:Schemat
icdi
agr
am ofnat
ural
gasst
eam r
efor
ming

Fi
eldsofappl
icat
ion
Today,hydrogeni sproducedindustr
ial
lyinl
arge-scalesteam r ef
ormersatrat
es
i
ntheor derof100, 000Nm3/ hathi ghpressures(20-40bar ).Decentr
ali
sed
on-si
teproductione.g.atagasst at
ionorinar esidenti
aldistri
ctrequi
res
small-
scaleSMRf acil
it
ieswit
hapr oducti
onr atebetween1, 000and4, 000Nm3/ h.
Smallscalestationaryandmobi l
ereformerswhi charedev elopedasbei ngpar
tof
afuelcellpackagear enotconsideredhere.

Techni
caldat
a
Techni cal dat afortwost eam r ef
ormingf acil
i
t i
esofdifferentsize,whichare
consi deredasr epresentativeforsmal l
scal eon-sit
ehy drogenpr oduction,andf
or
l
ar gescal ei ndustri
alappl i
cations.AsSMRi sawel lestablishedandmat ure
technol ogy ,thepotentialfortechnicali
mpr ov ementislimi t
ed.Accor di
ngt o
(DreierandWagner2000)weassumet hattoday sprocessef fi
ciencyof67%
(smal lscal e)and74%( largescal e)(
rel
atedt oLHVofhy drogen)canst il
lbe
sli
ght l
yi ncreasedi nthef uture.

Resultsfr
om f i
rstSorpt
ionEnhancedReacti
onPr ocesslabor
ator
yplantsdonot
yetfulf
ilt
heexpect edperformanceobj
ecti
ves(Huftonetal.2000)
,sothatthe
potenti
alforimpr ovementisdi
ffi
cul
ttoassess.Wesuggestt onotconsi
dering
thi
snewpr ocessher easlongasther
eisnof ur
thertechni
calevi
dencethatthe
theoret
icaltar
getscanbemet .

Techni
caldat
af orthesolarref
ormingprocessarebasedonasy stem desi
gn
studyby(Möll
eretal.2004).Theplanthasasolarther
malcapacit
yof50MW,
andahy dr
ogenpr oduct
ionrateof50,000Nm3/ h.Thecur
rentconceptaimsata
solaronlyoper
ati
onmodewi t
houtst or
agef orni
ghtti
meoper
ation,
resul
ti
ngi
n
only2,000ful
ll
oadhour speryear.Thesy st
em requi
res0.
25Nm3ofCH4per
Nm3ofH2, and0.32kWhsol art
hermal energyperNm3ofH2,resul
ti
nginan
overal
l r
efor
mereffi
ciencyof87%.[ 9]

3.
4Basi
cmechani
sm
Hy drogencanbeusedasaf uelf orinternalcombust i
onengines( H2ICE).The
combi nationofhy drogenasanener gycar ri
erwithpr ovenandwel lunderstood
enginet echnologiesisseenasanul ti
mat enear -
term soluti
onwhi chcouldbr i
dge
thegapupt ot hefulldevelopmentoff uel cel
lvehicles.CombustionofH2i nai r
produceswat er,non-methanev olatil
eor ganiccompoundsandcar bonmonoxi de
belowSULEV2st andard,butsignificantamount sofoxi desofnit
rogen.Howev er
givent heinherentineffi
ciencyofthei nternalcombust i
onengine,H2ICEwi llnot
beabl etopr ovidesuchsubst anti
al emi ssionreduct i
onswel l
-t
o-wheel and
effi
cientener gyuset hanaf uelcellpower edv ehicle.

Theuseofhy drogenasanengi nefuelhasbeenaddr essedonar atherl

i
mited
basi
swi t
hv aryi
ngdegr eesofsuccessoverseveral
decades( Kari
m 2003)[
10].
Hydrogencanbeappl i
edinconventi
onalsparkigni
tedpistonenginesaswellas
i
ncompr essionignit
ionenginesofdualfuelt
ype,homogenouschar ge
compressionignit
ionengines(HCCI)andengineswher eigni
ti
onisef f
ect
ed
thr
oughsur f
aceorcat alyt
ici
gnit
ion(Kar
im 2003).

Ther earenumer ouspositi

v efeat uresofhy dr ogenasanI CEf uel,most l
yr elated
toi tshighburningr at
es.Howev ert hereareal sosomedi sadv ant agesand
l
imi tati
ons.Enginesf uell
edwi thhy drogensuf ferfr
om reducedpowerout put ,due
mai nlytothev erylowheat i
ngv al ueofhy drogenonv ol
umebasi s( Karim 2003) .A
hy drogenenginewhenoper atedst oichiometricall
yneedst obe40- 60%l argeri n
sizet hanforgasol i
nef ort
hesamepowerandt or
queout put .Knocki sseenas
probl em i
nSIengi nescausedbyaut o-i
gnit
ionofunbur nedmi xtureofgas( Kar i
m
2003)howev erseemst obesol v edbyengi nemanuf acturers.Duet ot hevol atil
e
nat ureofthegas, thereareser i
ouspot enti
al operationalprobl emswi th
uncont rol
ledpre-ignit
ionandback- firi
ngont hei ntakemani fold, whi chneedt obe
addr essed.Hight emper at
uresmayl eadtohi ghemi ssi
onsofoxi desofni trogen.
NOxemissi
onsof0.5g/
km arer
epor
ted(
RICARDO2002)t
husrequi
ringal
ean
NOxtr
aporotherNOxaft
ertr
eat
menttomeetEURO4and5standards.

3.
5Exampl
esofappl
icat
ion
Prototypev ehicl
esusinghydrogenint
ernalcombustionengineshavebeen
demonst r
atedint hepastbyBMW, Dai
mlerCrysler
,MazdaandFor d.BMW
certai
nlyhasputt hehi
ghesteffor
tinH2I CEs,star
ti
ngin1979andmeanwhi l
e
presentingv ehi
clesinthefourt
hGenerati
on( Scheuer
er2003).BMW pr esent
eda
dual-f
uel V12hy drogenengineatIAAFrankfurtMotorShow2003.Dai mlerCrysl
er
hasst oppedr esearchonH2I CEandswitchedt oFCengines.

Mazda, t
hewor l
dsonlymanuf acturerofr otaryengines,haspr esent edatthe
2003Toky oMot orShowt hehy drogen- power edv er
sionoft heRENESI Sasan
exampleofahy drogengasolinedual-fuel system.Ther otaryengi necanr unon
hydrogenwithv eryli
tt
lemodi fi
cation.Ithast hei nj
ecti
on, compr ession,i
gniti
on
andexhaustar eassepar atedfrom eachot hersonopr e-i
gniti
onoft hegasoccur s.
Sincetheenginer equi
resf ewmodi f
icationst orunonhy drogen,itcouldenable
producti
onofar el
ati
velylow-costhy drogenhy drogen-power edalternati
ve-
fuel
vehicl
e.

Techni
caldat
a
From t
hedemonst r
ati
onv ehi
clesandengi
nes,somet echnicaldataar
eavail
able.
Forgeneralconclusi
onsthereislessi
nfor
mationavai
lable.Somegener i
cdatafor
appli
cat
ioninener gysyst
em model si
ssummar i
zedinFehl er!Verwei
squel
l
e
konntenichtgefundenwerden.

TheBMW Grouphaspresent
edadual
-fuelV12hydrogenengi
neattheIAA
Frankf
urtMot
orShow2003.The12-
cyl
inderconceptenginewi
thacapacit
yofsi
x
l
itr
esyiel
ds170kW (
231HP)at5500/min.TheBMW 745hi spower
edbya
4.4-
li
terV8, f
eat uringv ari
ablev al
v eti
mi ng,
v ariabl
eintaker unners,andaf ully
vari
ableintakemani fold.The745hcanuseei therhy drogenorpr emi um unleaded
gasoli
ne.Runni ngonhy drogen, t
he745hpr oduces137kW andcanachi ev eat op
speedof214km/ h.Thecr uisingr angeis300km.addedt ot he645- km r
angeof
thenormal fuel tank,the745hcango945km bet weenf i
l
l-ups.The
hydrogen-power edMI NIfeat ur
esapossi bl
enewi njectionpr ocessinwhi chsuper
cooledli
quidhy dr ogeni sinjectedi nt
otheint akeduct swher eitmixeswithai r
beforeenteringt hecy l
indersf origniti
on.Prev i
ously,theliquidhy dr
ogenwas
heatedtoambi entt emper aturebef orecombust i
on.Thi smeasur elowersal so
NOxemi ssions( RICARDO2002) .

Fordsi ntroducedt heModel UconceptSUV, i

ncludingahy drogen-f
uelled2.3-
li
ter
,
fourcy l
inderinternalcombust i
onengi
ne( basedont he2.3-li
terI-
4engi neusedin
theFor dRangerandEur opeanFordMondeo)t hatissuperchargedandopt imized
torunonhy dr
ogen.Thepower tr
aini
scoupledwi thahy bri
delectri
ctransmission.
Theov er allef
fi
ciencycanr each38percent,whichis25per centmor efuel
effi
cientt hangasol i
nefueledICEvehi
cles.TheModel Uwasdesi gnedf ormass
productionandaf fordabil
i
ty,andhasarangeofappr oxi
mately300mi les(Ford
2003) .

Tabl
e3.1:
Gener
ict
echni
cal
dat
aforH2i
nter
nal
combust
ionengi
nes(
dedi
cat
ed
engi
ne)

TodayshydrogenI Cenginesdonotachi evethespecifi

cpowerofconv ent
ional
gasol
ineengines.Ther easonisthatthevolumeofhy drogeninthecombustion
chamberisonet hirdofagasolinemi xt
ureandduet othischargelosst
heheat i
ng
val
ueofthetotal compoundi slower.Howev erwit
hexteriormixt
urefor
mat i
onor
hi
ghpressureinj
ect
ionwi
thtur
bochargi
ngfuelconsumptionofEUROI V
cal
i
brat
edt ur
bochargeddi
eselengi
nesaref
easibl
e(Pischinger2005)
.

Chapt
er4
Desi
gnofFuelCel
l
4.
1Component
sofaFuelCel
l
Abasichy dr
ogen-oxygenfuelcel
lconsi
stsof5mai ncomponent sfora
si
nglestackandot hersaf
etycomponent s.Uponincr
easingthenumberof
stacksnotallcomponentsneedtober epeated.Abasicgistofeach
componentalongwi thourowndesignsar eshownbelow.
 Fi
g4.
1Component
sofFuelCel
l

4.
1.1Wor
kingComponent
s
-Pr
otonExchangeMembr
ane
APr ot
onExchangeMembr ane(PEM)isthecorepartofaf uel
cellwhich
actsasapathwayforionstotr
avelfr
om anodetocathode.APEM l ooks
l
ikeathinpl
asticwrapfr
om yourki
tchenbutisact
uall
yaspeci al
mat erial
whichwasabr eakt
hroughfort
hepresentdayfuel
celltoreachwher eitis
now.
 Fi
g4.
2Pr
otonExchangeMembr
ane

Themostcommonl yusedPEM i sNaf i

onmembr ane.NafionPFSA
membr anesarewidelyusedf orPr ot
onExchangeMembr ane( PEM)fuel
cel
lsandwat erel
ectr
olyzer s.Themembr aneperformsasasepar at
orand
soli
delect r
olyt
einav ari
etyofel ect r
ochemi calcell
sthatr
equi r
ethe
membr anetoselect
ivel
ytr anspor tcati
onsacr ossthecelljuncti
on.The
polymeri schemical
lyresistantanddur able.Anaf f
ionmembr anehas
dif
ferentgradesmainlycat eor i
sedbasedont hethi
cknessoft he
membr ane.

I
nourf uelcellweproposedtouseNafi
on212membr ane. Thet
hickness
ofthispar
ticul
arcati
onexchangemembr ane,
Nafion212makesitsuitable
formanyHy dr
ogenAir/Oxy
genFuelCel
lappli
cat
ions.Nafi
on212is50. 8
micrometers(2mil)thi
ck.
-
Elect
rode

Anelectr
odeismai
nlyconsi
deredasacombi
nat
ionoft
wocomponent
s:a
cat
alystandagasdi
ffusi
onlay
er(GDL)
.

Acat
aly
st

Acatalyst
'sj
obistospl
i
ttheelectr
onsfrom t
heat
omswhenthehydrogen
oroxygenatomstouchtheel
ectrodeandactasapat
hwayf
oritt
otravel
fr
om cathodetoanodewit
hthehel poft
hePEM.

Al ayerofcatalysti
saddedonbot hsidesoft hemembr ane—t heanode
l
ay erononesi deandt hecat hodelayeront heother.Conv ent i
onalcat
alyst
l
ay ersincl
udenanomet er-
sizedparti
clesofplatinum disper sedona
high-surf
ace-areacarbonsuppor t.Ont heanodesi de,thepl ati
num catal
yst
enabl eshydrogenmol ecul
est obespl i
tintoprotonsandel ectrons.Onthe
cathodesi de,thepl
atinum cataly
stenabl esoxygenr eductionbyr eact
ing
witht heprotonsgeneratedbyt heanode, producingwat er.

I
nourf uelcel
lwehav
edecidedtouset heconventi
onalpl
ati
num catal
yst
.
Wehav echosentodosobecause;despit
eitbeingexpensi
ve,pl
ati
num is
ourbestchoicef
orhi
ghestef
fi
ciency.

Thepl
ati
num powderi
spr essedont
hePEM.Onanodet
het
hicknessbei
ng
0.
25mg/cm2andoncat hode0.6mg/cm2.

AGasDi
ff
usi
onLay
er(
GDL)

TheGDLssi toutsidethecat alystl

ay er
sandf acil
i
tat
etransportof
reactantsintot hecatalystlayer,aswel lasremov alofproductwater
.Each
GDLi sty pi
callycomposedofasheetofcar bonpaperinwhi chthecarbon
fi
bersar epar ti
all
ycoat edwi thpolytetr
afluoroethyl
ene(PTFE).Gases
diff
user apidlythrought hepor esintheGDL.Thesepor esarekeptopenby
thehy drophobicPTFE, whichpr eventsexcessi vewaterbuil
dup.Inmany
cases, t
hei nnersur f
aceoft heGDLi scoat edwi th
 Fi
g4.
3El
ect
rode

Athinlayerofhigh-surface-areacar bonmi xedwi thPTFE, call

edthemi cr
o
porouslayer.Themi cropor ousl ayercanhel padjustthebal ancebetween
waterretent
ion(neededt omai ntainmembr aneconduct i
vity)andwat er
rel
ease(neededt okeept hepor esopensohy drogenandoxy gencan
dif
fuseintotheelectrodes). Thi slayermustal sohav econt r
oll
ed
compressibil
ityt
osuppor ttheext ernalfor
cesf rom theassembl y,andnot
deformintot hebi
-componentpl atechannelst orest
rictfl
ow.

Accordi
ngt oouronl
i
neresearchandfi
ndi
ngs,
Car
boncl
othact
sasthe
bestGDLi naPEM Fuel
cellandthuswedeci
dedt
ousei
tinourpr
oposed
fuelcel
ldesign.

-Bi
pol
arPl
ates

Bipol
arplatesar
ehar dplat
esmadeupofconduct i
vemat er
ial
.These
pl
atesserveadoubl epurposewit
hinthef uelcel
lstack.Onepurposeofthe
graphit
eplatei
stoactasaconduct orbyr eceivi
ngtheenergyfrom t
he
el
ectrodes.Theotherpurposeist
ogui dethef l
owoft hehydrogenand
oxygenthroughthei
rrespecti
veendsoft hestack,makingsurethatthe
maximum amountoft hegassesandmoi sturecomesi ncontactwit
hthe
membr ane.
Sincehydr
ogenandoxy genaregonnaflowoverthebipol
arpl
ates,
metal
pl
at esmayreactwit
hitresul
ti
nginacorossi
vereact
ion.Henceherewe
useanon-met al
li
cconductor
,Graphi
te.

Fi
g4.
4Bi
pol
arPl
ates
Fl
owchannelswhi chall
owgassest opassinbet weenbipolarpl
ateand
MEA( Membr aneElect
rodeAssembl y)arecutinthebipolarplat
es.The
desi
gnofthesechannel ssignif
icantl
yeffecttheeffi
ciencyofthefuelcel
l
astheybasi
callydeter
mi nethetimeofcont actbetweent hegaseous
matterwi
ththeGDL.Howev er
,themachi ni
ngpr ocessrequiredfort
he
makingoftheseflowchannel sont hegraphit
epl at
eisnoteasy .

Wehav etri
edtocomeupwiththesi
mpl
estyetthemost"
ti
megivi
ng"fl
ow
channeldesi
gnwhichwoul
dprootet
hef
uelcell
toworkati
tsf
ull
est.
 Fi
g4.
5Bi
pol
arPl
ateRar
evi
ew

-Cur
rentCol
lect
orpl
ates

Oncetheelctr
onstransferfr
om hydrogentooxy gen, t
hecur r
entproduced
i
st r
ansfer
redfrom st
ackt ostackandarefinall
ycollectedbycurrent
coll
ect
orplat
eswhi chrelayi
ttoexternal
load.Thepl atesarestackedon
thetwoendsoft heenti
rearrangementandj ustbeforet hecompression
plat
es.
 Fi
g4.
6Cur
rentCol
lect
orPl
ate

Thecurrentcol
lect
orplat
esarethi
ncoppersheetswi t
hadigi
talcir
cui
t
pri
ntedoni t
.Theseplat
esarealsowheresensors,
ifany,ar
eattachedt
o
thefuel
celltomonitort
heperformanceofthefuelcel
l.Abasi
cv i
ewofa
curr
entcol
lect
orsheeti
sattachedbelow.

-Compr
essi
onPl
ates

Compressionpl
atesaretwoboundarypl
ateswhosepurposeist
oholdt
he
st
ackarrangementtoget
her.Forsaf
eworkingoft
hefuelcel
l,
thest
ack
arr
angementshoul dabsol ut
elyav
oidanyform ofl
eakagefrom thesy
stem.
Thecompr essionplatesmakesur et
hear r
angementisunderpressur
eand
ai
r-t
ightpacked.Theyal soactasaprotect
ivecasi
ngforthearr
angement
fr
om anyext er
nalforces.

Alumi
num bei
ngli
ght,st
ronganddur
abl
emat er
ial
,iti
savi
ableopt
ionf
or
compressi
onpl
atesandhencewehavechosenthismater
ial
.

Fi
g4.
7Compr
essi
onPl
ates

4.
1.2Saf
etyComponent
s

-
Gasket
s

Gasketsar erubberli
ningswhichseal t
hejoi
ntbet weentwobi polarpl
ates
preventi
nganyl eakageofgassesi nbetweenthet woplates.Thesecan
eit
herbemadebymachi necut
tingorbyagl uepastedependingony our
convenience.Agasketi shighl
ynecessaryinaf uelcel
lasitpreventsany
form ofleakage.Oneoft heimportantpar
amet ersinafuelcellbuil
disthe
thi
cknessoft hegasket s.
 Fi
g4.
8Insi
deGasket Fi
g4.
9Out
side
Gasket

Thegaskett hi
cknessdet ermineshowmucht heflowf i
eldsar
eallowedto
pinchint
ot heelectrode.Si
nceelectrodet
hicknessf oranodeandcathode
mayv ary,gasketthicknessforeachsidei
sdet erminedseparat
elyusingthe
formula:Gasketthickness=( i
ndivi
dualel
ectrodethickness)— (desi
red
pinch)
.

-
Pressur
eRegul
atorv
alv
e

Sinceaf uelcell
isanairti
ghtboxwi t
hconst antgasinlet
,therearechances
ofthepr essureinsi
detoexceedt hesafetyli
mitwhichmayr esulti
ngas
l
eakageandpossi bleexplosi
on.Toav oi
dt hi
sapr essureregulat
ingvalv
eis
highlyrecommendedatt heinl
etandout l
etholesoft hefuelcell
.Inaddi
ti
on
tothisapr essuresensorinsi
dethefuelcellactsasanaddedsaf ety
feature.

Valvesarerequi
redi
nfuel
cel
lsystemstosuppl
ythegaseousf
uelatt
he
i
nletsideandtopurget
hecondensateatt
heoutl
etsi
deofthedev
ice.
Accordi
ngtotheini
ti
alpr
essur
eoft
hegas,
thepr
essur
ewi
l
lber
educedi
n
sever
alcascades.

Usuall
y,twot ypesofvalvesar eembedded.Ononehandt hesy st
em needs
on/offval
v estodrai
ncondensat eortoshutof fthetankortheent i
re
system.Ont heotherhand, onepr oport
ionalvalv
ei srequi
redtodoset he
fl
owr at
eofgaseousf uel t
ot hestacksinl
et.Dependingont heactualpower
demand, thegaseousf uelflowwi l
lbecontroll
edt hr
oughahi ghly
dynamical pr
oporti
onal behav i
or.

Fi
g4.
10Pr
essur
eregul
atorVal
ve

Aback-pressureregul at
orback-
pressur
ev alv
e,pressur
esustai
ningvalv
eor
pressur
esust ai
ningr egulat
ori
sacont r
ol v
alvethatmaint
ainst
heset
pressur
eatitsinletsidebyopeningtoallowf l
owwhent heinl
etpressur
e
exceedsthesetv alue.

Apurge/
drai
nval
vecontrol
stherel
easeofthecondensat
e,mostl
ikel
y
water
.Theval
vehastobefrostappr
ov edwhi
chmeans, t
hatt
heexpandi
ng
l
iqui
dmustnotpermanentl
ydamaget heval
vestr
uctur
eandthevalve
shoul
dhaveade-f
rostf
uncti
on.
4.
2Desi
gnSpeci
fi
cat
ionsofEachComponent
S.
no Component
s Component
s Lengt
h Br
eat
h Thi
ckness
Name Mater
ial

1. Membr
ane Naf
ion212 10cm 10cm 2mi
l
(50.
8mi
cromet
er)

2. Gasdif
fusi
on 1.
Gasdiff
usi
on 1.
Car
bon-
10cm 1.
Car
bon-
10cm 1.
Car
bon-
250mi
crons
el
ect
rode l
ayer
-car
bon
2.plat
inum-
2.
Cat
aly
st-
plat
inum Anode:
0.25mg/ cm2
ptloading 

cathode:
0.6mg/cm2pt
l
oading

3. Bi
polar Gr
aphi
te 10cm 10cm 5mm
Pl
ates

4. Cur
rent Copper 10cm 10cm
Col
l
ector
5. Compressi
on Al
umi
nium 15cm 15cm 1cm
Pl
ates

Tabl
e4.
1:Desi
gnSpeci
fi
cat
ions

4.
3Pr
oposedChangest
oCommer
cialDesi
gn

From whatwehav
eseeninthefuel
cel
lmar
ket,
mostfuel
cel
l
shav
ethe
fol
lowi
ngworki
ngcri
ter
iaofhydr
ogenf
lowi
nthesy
stem:

Hydr
ogent ank-fuel
celli
nlet-1ststack-2ndstack-l
astst
ack-out
letof
unut
il
isedhydrogenbackintothestoragetank.

Thi
senabl
esconst
antf
lowofhy
drogent
hrough.

Wepr
oposethatinst
eadofhavi
ngt hi
sconstantf
low,thehy
dr ogenshoul
d
st
ayi
nbetweenthestackunt
ili
tiscomplet
elyuti
li
sed.Meaning:

Hy
drogent
ank-Al
lthest
ackswi
thnoexi
tval
vef
orhy
drogen.

Ourideaisthatl
ongerper
iodofhydr
ogenexposur
et otheelect
rodeat
constantpr
essurepromot
eshigherpr
oduct
ionofelect
rici
ty.

Itisunderstoodt hatthethishasar iskoff uel cel

lexpl
osionduehi gh
pressure.Toov ercomet hi
swesuggestanembeddedsy st
em which
constantlymoni tor sthepressureatthehy dr ogeninletvalv
eandl i
mi tsi
tup
toacer tai
npsi .Asanaddedsaf etywecanal sointr
oduceapr essure
sensorintothef uel cel
l(onthecurrentcollect orpl
ate)whichregulatesthe
hydrogeni nl
etint ot hefuelcell
whent hepressur edropsandst opsthe
i
n- f
lowwhent hepr essurereachesitsmar k.
 Chapt
er5

HYDROGENSTORAGETECHNI
QUE
5.
1-I
NTRODUCTI
ON
I
nt hedevel
opmentoffuelcel
lvehi
cles,hydr
ogenstor
ageis“
thebiggest
remaini
ngresear
chprobl
em”accor dingtotheJanuar
y2003Off
iceofTechnol
ogy
Policyr
epor
t,

FuelCel
lVehicles:
RacetoaNewAut omotiveFuture.Currenthydrogenstorage
syst
emsar einadequatetomeett heneedsofconsumer sinaf uelcellvehi
cle.
TheOTPr eportconti
nues,“Hydrogenslowenergy-densit
ymakesi tdiffi
cultto
stor
eenoughonboar davehicl
etoachievesuff
ici
entv ehi
clerangewi thoutthe
stor
agecontainerbeingt
oolargeortooheavy.”

Exi
sti
ngandpr oposedtechnologi
esforhydrogenst
orageincl
ude(1)physi
cal
stor
age:pressur
izedtanksforgaseoushydrogenandpressuri
zedcr
yotanksfor
l
iqui
dhy dr
ogen;

(2)Reversi
blehydr
ogenupt akeinvari
ousmet al
-basedcompoundsincl
udi
ng
hydri
des,nit
ri
des,andimides;(3)chemicalst
orageinir
rever
sibl
ehydr
ogen
carri
erssuchasmet hanol
;(4)cryoadsorpt
ionwithacti
vat
edcarbonasthemost
commonadsor bent
;and

(
5)Advancedcarbonmater
ial
sabsor
pti
on,i
ncl
udi
ngcarbonnanot
ubes,
al
kal
i
-dopedcarbonnanot
ubes,andgr
aphi
tenanof
iber
s.

TheDepar tmentofEner
gytimel
inef ordev
elopmentofst
oragesystemspr oj
ect
s
thathighpressur
eandcryogeni
cst oragewil
lbedemonstr
atedin2002-3,
cost-eff
ecti
vehydri
dest
oragesystemsi n2003-6,
andcar
bon-basedstorage
systemsi n2006-
11.

Goal
sforhydr
ogenstor
agesy
stemsf
or2010t
hatwer
eest
abl
i
shedi
nthe
Fr
eedom CARini
ti
ati
vei
ncl
ude

 Av
ail
abl
ecapaci
tyof6wt
%hy
drogen

 Speci
fi
cener
gyof2kWh/
kg

 Ener
gydensi
tyof1.
1kWh/
L

 Cost≤$5/
kWhor$1.
25/
gal
(gasequi
v.
)inCY2001dol
l
ars

5.
1.1Pr
essur
izedTankSt
orage
Pressur izedt anksofadequat estr
engt h,includi ngi mpactr esist ancef orsaf etyi n
coll
isions, hav ebeenmadeofcar bon-fiberwr appedcy l
i
nder s.Compr essedgas
storagei nsucht ankshasbeendemonst ratedatapr essur eof34MPa( 5,000psi )
withamassof32. 5kgandv olumeof186L, suf fi
cientf ora500- km range.Not e,
howev er,thatthistankv ol umei sabout90%ofa55- gallondr um, r
atherl argef or
i
ndiv idual automobi l
es.Sowhi l
ethe6wt %goal canbeachi ev ed, t
ankv olumei s
problemat ic.Pressuresof70MPa( 10,000psi )hav ebeenr eached, andi n2002
Germanycer t
if
iedQuant um Technol ogy s10,000psi on- boar dst or
aget ank.A
footnot eint heOTPr epor tcitedabov esay s,“ TheToy otaandHondav ehicles
availablef orleaseinl ate2002usehy drogenst oredinhi gh-pressur econt ainers.
Howev er,theirrangewi l
l belessthanopt i
mal becausehy drogensl owdensi t
y
doesnotper mi tasufficientamountt obest or ed( unlikeCNG[ compr essed
natur algas] ,whichhasahi gherenergydensi tyf orthesamev olume) .
”

Lowt emper atur

est orageofliqui
dhydrogendoesnotappeart obesuitabl
efor
normal v
ehicleuse, althoughresear
chont hispossi
bili
tyi
sbeingconductedata
l
owl evelbysev eralaut omobi
lemanuf act
urers.Fur
thermore,“al
iqui
dhy dr
ogen
stor
agesy stem losesupt o1%adaybyboi l
ingandupt o30%dur i
ngfil
l
ing,as
wellasrequiringinsulationt
okeept hehydrogenat20K. ”[ 11]
5.
1.2Cr
yoadsor
pti
onHy
drogenSt
orage
Whilehavingpotent
ialwei
ghtandv ol
umeadv antages,cryoadsorpti
onwit
h
acti
vatedcarbonasadsorbantrequir
esli
qui
dni t
rogent emperaturesand2MPa
(300psi)toholdthephysi
cal
lyadsorbedhydr
ogen.I tdoesnotappeart obe
suit
ableforvehi
cleuse.

Fi
g5.
1.2
5.
1.3Car
bonNanot
ubeandRel
atedSt
orageTechnol
ogi
es
Thest atusofhy dr
ogenstorageinadv ancedcarbonmat erial
sisstil
lunclear.I
n
thissubsection,werevi
ewbr i
eflythestatusofcarbonnanot ubestorage,both
singl
ewal ledanddouble-wall
ed,andgr aphit
enanofiberstackstorage.Other
carbon-basedst or
agetechnologiesthathavebeenpr oposedincludealkali
-doped
graphite,f
ull
erenes,andacti
vatedcar bon.

Highsurfaceareaandabundantpor ev olumei nthenanost ruct

uremat eri
alsmake
theseespecial
lyattr
act i
veaspot ent i
alabsorptionstoragemat eri
als.Someear l
y
workgavet antal
izi
ngr esult
sforhy drogenst orageincar bonnanot ubes.Ogden
report
edv ar
iousconfli
ct i
ng,someexcessi velyoptimisti
c,resul
ts.Aquer ybythi
s
subcommi tt
eet oProf.Mi l
dredDr esselhausofMI Taboutt heachievablewt%(6.5
wt%hasbeensuggest ed)br oughtt hi
sr esponse:

1.I
tishardtosaywhatisarel
iableesti
mat eofthehydrogenuptakenumber
becauseofthedi
ff
erencesi
nt hereport
edl ev
elsbydiff
erentgroups,
presumabl
ydoingsi
mi l
armeasurement s.Thereasonsforthediff
erent
resul
tsbet
weengroupsarenotunder st
ood.

2.The6.
5%v
aluei
snoty
etachi
evabl
einmyopi
nion.

3.Theproblem seemstobehar dtome, ar

guingfr
om at heoret
icalst
andpoint
.
HoweverIwoul dnotdi
scountthepossibi
li
tyofabreakthroughthatmight
changethesituat
iondramati
call
y.Sofari
tdoesn'tseem tomet hatther
eis
yetmuchav ail
abl
ecareful
l
ycontroll
edwork.

A2001r
evi
ewofcar
bonnanostr
uct
urestor
ageresear
ch,
sponsor
edbyt
he
Ger
manFeder
alMi
nist
ryf
orEducat
ionandResearch(
BMBF),f
oundt
hat
foll
ow-upwor k“ hasbeenunabletoreproduceanyofthehigh-
capacit
yr esul
ts.
”
[
29]Theyconcl uded“ Inviewoftodaysknowledge,i
tisunl
i
kelythatcarbon
nanostruct
urescanst oretherequi
redamountofhy dr
ogen.Inanycase, thi
scal
ls
i
nt odoubtwhet hercarbonnanostr
uctur
eswoul dhaveanyadvantageov er
high-pr
essuretankstorage.”

Fi
g5.
1.3Mul
ti
wal
l
ednanot
ubes

TheGermanstudypresentedt
hefoll
owingsummar
yfi
gur
eont
hecapaci
tyof
cur
rentandf
uturehy
dr ogenst
oragesystems:
Fi
g5.
1.3

Theconsider
abl
edoubtthathasbeencastuponcar
bonnanotubest
orage
capacit
ymakesithi
ghl
ylikel
ythatt
hei
rposit
ionont
hischar
twill
havetobe
mov edtoamuchlessf
av our
ablepoi
nt.

5.
2HYDROGENFUELSTORAGESAFETY
Hydrogenhasar eput
ati
onforbeingexpl
osiveandt her
efor
erai
sesconcerns
aboutthesafet
yofcarry
ingasubstanti
alquanti
tyofH2i navehi
clef
ueltank.
Howev er
,becauseH2istheli
ghtestgas,i
thasat endencytodi
ff
useawayqui ckl
y
i
ncaseitscont
aineri
sbr
eachedandconsequent
lymayr
epr
esentl
essofa
hazar
dthangasoli
ne.

Thesi mplestwayt ocarr

yhydrogenfueli
nacarorot hervehi
cleisasa
hi
gh- pr
essur egas310kpsi(21-69MPa)i nmetalorcomposit
e-rei
nfor
ced
(f
ibreglass,carbonfi
bre,
Kevlar
)tanks.Thisi
ssimil
artothewaycompr essed
naturalgas( CNG)vehicl
esoperate.

Therei sani nterest i

ngrepor tonH2f orener gyusebyt heNorwegian
environment al organization.Theseaut horsconcludet hat“
hydr
ogeni snomor eor
l
essdanger oust hananyot herenergycar r
ierandfurthermor
ethathydrogenhas
propertiesthati ncer tai
nar easmakei tsafert
hanot herener
gycarri
ers:i
tisnot
poisonous, andhast heabi l
it
ytodissipatequicklyintotheat
mospher ebecause
ofitslightweightcompar edtoair
.”Theydescr i
betestsbyLockheedandAr t
hurD.
Li
ttlethatindicat edt hatH2i s,i
fany t
hing,saferthangasoli
neorjetfuel
.Thereare
anumberofr efer encest ocrashtestingbyBMW t hatsayBMW demonst ratedthe
safetyofH2f uel forcar s.

Chapt
er6

6.
1Benef
it
sOfTheFuelCel
lTechnol
ogy
6.
1.1St
acksandsy
stems
Nowmovi
ngf
rom t
hesingl
efuel
cel
luni
ttor
eal
‐wor
ldsy
stems,
whatdowehav
e
t
oaddt
ogett
hem all
setupandwhy
?

Simil
art oallelectrical dev i
cest heout putpowerofaf uelcelli
sequal tothe
curr
entmul t
ipli
edbyt hev oltage.Whi let hecur rentmaybei ntheoryindefinit
ely
i
ncreasedbyi ncreasi ngt her eact i
onar eabet weenhy drogen‐andoxy gen‐
containingreactant s,thev oltage,i.e.thepot entialdiff
er encebetweent heanode
andcat hode, i
st hermody nami callylimi tedtoal i
tt
lemor ethan1Vbyt henat ur
e
ofthet wohal f‐
cell react i
onsi naf uel cel l
:hydrogenoxi dationreacti
on( HOR)at
theanodeandoxy genr educt i
onr eact ion( ORR)att hecat hode.Mor eov er
,losses
i
nev i
tablyoccuri naf uel cellduet oslowki net i
csoft heel ectrodereactions
(act
ivationov erpot ent i
al),intri
nsicr esi stancesoft hedi ff
erentcomponent sand
contactr esi
stancesbet weenoneot her( ohmi cov erpot ential)
,andtranspor t
resi
stancesoft her eact ants( concent rationov erpot ential)
.Therefore,under
operationalloadt heact ual voltageofasi nglef uelcell i
sint he0.6‐
0.7Vr ange.

Usef ulvolt
agesar egenerall
yachi evedbyi nterconnect i
ngmul tipleunitf uel
cells
i
nser ies.Thisist heconceptof“ stacking”.Thest acksf inaloutputv oltagewill
dependont henumberofcel lsandt heav ail
ablecur rentwi l
lbepr opor t
ionalofthe
totalsurfacear eaoft hecell
s.Int hi sconfigurati
on, theconduct ive
i
nterconnect ingelementi sincont actwi t
hbot ht heanodeofonecel l andwi t
ht he
cathodeoft headj acentcell
,hencet hename“ bipolarplate”.Fl
owchannel sare
groovedoneachsi deforgasdi stributi
onandwat erremov al
.Bipolarplate
mat erial
sarehi ghlyimper meabl et ogasesi nor dertoav oidhar mf ulfueland
oxidantmi xtures:thesemat erialsar emai nlygraphite,pol ymer‐
gr aphite
composi tesandmet alssuchasst ainlesssteel oralumi nium (mostof t
encoat ed
withacor r
osion‐resistantal
loy).

1.Bipol
arstacki
ngithasbeenuptonowt hemostsimpleandthemost
conventi
onalconfi
gur
ati
oninmosttypesoffuel
cell
sy st
ems,par
ti
cul
arl
ylow‐
temperatur
esyst gh-
ems.Forhi temperatur
esystemssuchasSOFCshowev er
,
 seal
ingissuesduetolar
getemperat
uregradi
entsduri
ngoperat
ionhave
dri
venresearchtowar
dalter
nat
ivear
rangements,l
eadi
ngtothedevelopment
ofatubulardesi
gn.

2.Tubul arst acki nginthedi f

ferentel ement soft hefuel cel
lunit
(anode/ electrolyt
e/cathode)i sar r
angedconcent r
icall
yformingahol low
cyli
nder .Fuel isfedont heanodesi de,eithert hrought hei
nsideoral ongthe
outsideoft hecy l
inder,andoxi danti sfedont hecat hodeside.Seri
es
connect ioni saccompl i
shedbyv erticaladditionoft hecells(intheheight
dir
ect i
on)whi l
epar all
elconnect ioni saccompl i
shedbyhor i
zontaladdit
ionof
thecel ls( inthesamepl an).Thet ubulardesi gni swel lsui
tedforhigh‐
temper atureappl icati
onssi nceitmi nimizest henumberofseal si nthefuel
cellsy stem t husal l
eviatingpr oblemsduet ounmat chingexpansion
coefficient s.

3.Planarst
acki
ngisasecondalt
ernati
vetothebipol
ararr
angement ,
inwhich
cel
lsareconnect
edlat
eral
lyr
atherthanver
ti
call
y.Sever
alplanardesi
gnshave
beenexplored,most lyforsmall‐scal
esy st
ems:thebanded‐ membr anedesi
gn,in
whichtheanodeofonecel li
sconnect edt
othecat hodeoftheadjacentcel
l
acrosstheband; andt hefli
p‐f
lopdesi gn,i
nwhicht her
ei si
nter
connecti
onofunit
cell
sont hesamesi deofthebandt hankstoal
ternateanodesandcat hodes.The
mainadv antageoft histhi
rdarrangementi sabettervolumetri
cpackaging,
yetat
theexpenseofi ncreasedresistancelosses.

Besidest hef
uelcellst
ack,r
efer
redtoasthef
uel
cellsubsystem,t
heother
subsy stemsthatareneededtokeepthewhol
esyst
em runningcanbeclassi
fi
ed
i
ntot hreecat
egories:

Thet
her
mal
management(
cool
i
ng)sy
stem.

Thef
uel
del
i
ver
y/pr
ocessi
ngsy
stem.

Thepowerel
ect
roni
cs(
andsaf
ety
)sy
stem f
orpowerr
egul
ati
onandmoni
tor
ing.

Thecomponent sthatdrawelect
ri
calpowerfrom thefuelcell
therebycausi
ng
parasiti
cpowerlossesarecal
ledancil
l
ari
es.Forexampl e,anacti
velycool
edfuel
cel
l system wi
l
lempl oyananci
ll
arydevi
celi
keaf an,ablowerorapumpf or
coolingflui
dci
rcul
ation.
1.Asf uel cellsareusual l
yabout30‐ 60%el ectri
callyeffi
cient(dependi ngoft he
typeoff uelcell)
,thebal anceofener gyi srel
easedi nt heform ofheatandt his
hast obemanagedbyt hesystem i nor dertomai ntainthet hermalgr adients
i
nsi det hest ackatt helowestpossi blel evel(withinaf ew° C)andensur est able
oper ation.Acool ingsy stem isr equiredf orfuel cell
sthatcannotbenef i
tfrom
nat ural heatregul ationbyt heambi ent ,i.
e.all
sy stemsexceptsmal lPEMFCs
(out putpower<100W) .Thecool i
ngf luidcanbeei theragas( ai
r),
oral i
quid
(distill
edwat eroraqueousgl ycol ‐
basedsol uti
on)dependi ngont heheat
dissi pationcapaci tyneedsandt heot herchar acteri
sticsoft hefuelcellsy stem.
Giv ent hattheheatcapaci tyofl i
quidsi smuchgr eaterthant hatofgases;
consequent l
y, smal lli
quid‐
cool eddev iceswi l
lgener al
lybef armor eef fi
cientt han
theirmassi vegas‐ cooledequiv alents.

I
nadvancedfuelcel
lsyst
ems,t
heheatrel
easedbyt hestackcanbepur
posel
y
r
ecov
eredforint
ernal(
1)orext
ernal
(2)heat
ing.Examplesfol
low:

Heatcanbeusedforcondi
t i
oningreact
antgases=pr e‐
heati
ng+humidi
fi
cat
ion;
Heatcanbeusedforprovi
dingspaceand/ orwaterheati
nginahouse,
or
passengercompar
tmentwar minginacar;

Cogenerati
onbyheatrecov er
yisapower f
ulmeanstoincr
easetheoveral
l
eff
ici
encyoffuelcel
l
ssy stemsupt o80‐85%.I
tisver
yadvantageousi
nhigh
temperatur
efuel
cellsystems,mainlyPAFCandSOFC.

2.Gi
venthatal
mostal
lpr
acti
calfuelcel
l
stodayusehydrogenorcompounds
cont
aini
nghydr
ogenasafuel
,therearetwopri
maryopti
onstofeedafuelcel
l
:

(
a)I
nadi
rectwaybypur
ehy
drogenor

(
b)Byahy
drogencar
ri
eraf
terupst
ream pr
ocessi
ng.

a.I
nt hefi
rstcase,hydrogenisproducedout sidethef uelcellsyst
em inan
i
ndustri
alprocess(steam r
eformingf orexampl e),andisr eadyfordi
rect
use.Thefuelmanagementsubsy stem willi
ncludeahy drogenreservoir
rel
atedtothephy si
calstat
eofhy drogenst ored:high‐pressuregascy l
i
nder
(upto700bar s)forcompressedgas, double‐walledinsulatorunder
 cryogenicconditi
ons( 22K)forliquidhydrogeninextremesi t
uationswher e
massst oragecapaci tyi
sespeci al
lyimportant
,e.g.spacecondi t
ions,orl
ow‐
pressurecontainerformet alhydri
dcompoundsgr oundintoext r
emel yfi
ne
powder s.Theadv antagesofdirecthydrogenfeedingincludehigh
performance,simplicit
y,andtheeliminati
onofi mpurit
yconcer ns.Butthe
currentstor
ageopt ions,mainlyintheform ofcompr essedgasorr ev
ersi
ble
met alhydri
de,arenotopt i
mal yet.

b. Inthesecondcase, thesystem i
smor ecompl ex.Si ncehydrogeni snot
availableasi s,i
tmustbeder i
vedf r
om hy drogen‐cont ai
ningfuelscalled
“hydrogencar r
iers”t hatarewidelyavail
ablei nthei ndustry
,li
kemet hane,
met hanol,diesel orgasoline.Exceptafewhy drogencar r
ier
st hatare
dir
ect lyusableinf uel cel
l
ssy stemsincludingmet hanol i
nDMFCsand
met hanei nSOFCsofMCFCs, avastmaj ori
tyoft hem mustbepr ocessed
befor etheyent erthef uelcel
l.Thisispossiblyachi evedintwodi ffer
ent
way s:
bydi rectelectro‐oxidat
ion

Bychemi
cal
ref
ormi
ng

Afurt
herdist
inct
ionmustbemadebetweenexternalr
eformi
ngwhet her
ref
ormingoccursinachemical
react
orsepar
atedfrom t
hefuelcel
l
, andinter
nal
ref
ormingwhetherther
eacti
ontakespl
aceatthecatal
ystsur
faceinsidethefuel
cel
l.

i
.Di rectelect r
o‐oxi
dati
onoft hecar ri
erf uelintohy drogenisattractivebecauseit
avoidst heextrastepofreformingi tpriortot hefuel cellr
eacti
onandal lchemical
react orsassoci at
edwithit.Dir
ectMet hanol Fuel Cellsarebasedont hispri
nci
ple,
andot hersi mplecompoundsl ikeet hanol andf ormi cacidcanal sobeempl oyed.
Unf ortunat el
y,theover
allelect
ricaleffi
ciencyoft hi scategoryoff uelcell
sis
significantlyreducedduet othecompl exityoft her eact
ions.Asar esul
t,the
ener gydensi tygainedbytheabsenceofar eformeroraf uelreserv oi
rcanbe
l
ar gelyof fsetbythelowfuel effi
ciencyandt heneedf orlar
gerst acks.
Di
rectel
ect
ro‐
oxi
dati
onisbestappl
iedi
npor
tabl
eappli
cati
ons,
wher
esi
mpl
e
sy
stems,mini
malanci
ll
ari
es,andl
owpowerareneeded.

i
i.Exter
nalreformingsy stemsar ecomposedofsev eraldevicesforsuccessiv
ely
tr
eatingchemi call
yorphy si
callythegasr
eactant(hydrogencar ri
er)andthe
products(i
ncludinghy drogen).Sev er
alwaysarepossible,andt heexact
conditi
onswillvarywitht hepr ocessandthehy dr
ogencar ri
er.Themostused
processissteam r ef
ormi ng:fuelmolecul
esar eburnedov eracatalyst(ni
ckel
‐,
copperoxide‐orzi nc‐based)undert hepresenceofwat ersteam ataf ewhundred
degreesC,accor dingtot hereaction:

CxHy +xH2O(
g) ↔ xCO+(
1/2y+x)H2 ⇒ H2,
CO,
CO2,
H2O

They i
eldoft
hisendot
her
micr
eactioncanbefurt
heri
ncreasedint
hepresenceof
excesswatervapourv
iat
hewater
‐gasshif
treact
ioni
nvolv
ingthepr
oductCO:

CO+H2O(
g) ↔ CO2 +H2

Beforer eforming,thefuelmayhav etobedesulfuri

zedandheat ed.Aft
erreacti
on,
ahy drogen‐cont ai
ninggasmi x
tureisobtai
nedt hatincert
aincaseshastobe
puri
fiedi nmul ti
‐processingsteps.Thi
saddit
ional post‐
tr
eatmentisrequi
redfor
remov ingpoi sonsandbeabl etof eedt
hefuelcellwithapurehy dr
ogengas, what
i
sespeci al
lyimpor t
antforlow‐temperatur
esy stems.

i
ii.Int
ernalfuelref or mi
ngi spossi bleforhi
gh‐t
emper atur ef uelcel
lswi thcertain
fuels.Inthiscase, t hefuelismi xedwi thst
eam priorent eringt hefuelcellanode
wher eitisbothr ef ormedi nt ohy drogenandtheusual co‐pr oductsCOandCO2
andt henspl i
tintopr ot
onsi nt hef uelcellr
eact
ion.Undert hesehi gh‐temper ature
conditions,thepr esenceofcar bonoxi desisnotani ssueany more.Thesegases
areev enfurtherpr ocessedi nsi tuthuscontri
buti
ngt ot hef uel cel
lef f
ici
ency .
Althought hediffer entinterplayingpar ameter
sar ediffi
cul ttoopt i
mi ze,i
nternal
reformingisapr omi si
ngsol utionbecausei tgiv
esanel egant( andeconomi call
y
wi nni
ng)answert oacompl exquest i
on.

Fuel
refor
mi ngisbestappl
iedi
nstat
ionar
yappl
i
cati
ons,
wherefuelfl
exi
bil
it
yis
i
mportantandtheexcessheatcanbemanagedinsi
deorout
sidethesyst
em.
However,f
uelrefor
mingtechnol
ogyi
snotacurr
entchoi
ceofauthor
iti
esfor
transportati
onappli
cati
onssincetheexi
sti
ngtechnol
ogiesdonotmeetthe
technicaloreconomictarget
s,andonlymargi
nalimprov
ementisexpectedin
effi
ciencyandemi ssi
onsbetweenahy br
idvehicl
eandanFCv ehi
cleequipped
wi t
hon‐ boardr
eforming.

Foranyoft
hefueldel
ivery/pr
ocessi
ngsyst
emsconsider
edprev
iousl
y,gas
pumpsareusedtofeedt hegasreact
ant
sinthef
uelcell
,andawaterpurge
syst
em mustal
sobei ntegrat
ed.

3.Lastbutnotl
east
,iti
snecessar
yt omanagethedir
ectpoweroutputoft
hef
uel
cel
lint
ousablepower.Thepowerelect
roni
cssubsyst
em consi
stsof:

a)Powerr
egul
ati
on;

b)Poweri
nver
sion;

c)Powermoni
tor
ingandcont
rol
;

d)Powersuppl
ymanagement
.

Powercondi
tioni
ngcor
respondst
oregul
ati
onandi
nver
sionoft
hef
uel
cel
l
poweroutput
.

a.Regul
ationallowsdel i
veryofpoweratav olt
agelevelt
hatisstabl
eov er
ti
mef r
om af uel cel
loutputpowerthatmostof t
enisnot.Fuelcel
lpoweri s
gener
all
yr egulatedbyDC/ DCconv ert
ers,whichtransf
ormt hefl
uctuating
Dir
ectCurrent( DC)volt
ageinputintoaf i
xed,stabl
eDCv olt
ageoutput .A
DC/DCconv erterisgenerall
y85‐98%ef fi
cient.

b.Inver
sionmeansconv er
ti
ngtheDCpowerpr ov idedbyt hefuelcel
li
nto
Alter
nativeCur r
ent(AC)powerconsumedbymostel ectr
onicdevi
ces,
elect
ricmot ors,andtheelect
ri
calgr
id.Thistaski sperformedbyaDC/ AC
converter.Si
mi l
artoDC/ DCconvert
ers,DC/ACconv erter
sare85‐97%
effi
cient.Consequently,
thesedevi
cestakent ogethery i
elda5‐20%
 decreaseinf
uelcellel
ect
rical
effi
ciency
,whichisfarfr
om negli
gibl
e.
Select
ionsofopti
mal opt
ionsforagivenfuelcel
lstacktechnol
ogy,
geomet r
yandsizeinagivenenvir
onmenti sther
eforeanessenti
alpoi
nt.

c.Powermoni tori
ngandcont rolincl
udessy stem moni tori
ngbygauges,
sensors, etc.thatmeasur ethecondi t
ionsoft hefuelcell,
sy st
em act uat
ion
byv al
ves, pumps, switches,fans,etc.thatregulat
ethem, andacent ral
controlunitthatmedi atestheinteracti
onbet weensensor sandact uators.
Mostcont rolsystemsar ebasedonf eedbackal gori
thmst omai ntainstabl
e
fuelcelloper ati
on, i
.e.dif
ferentsetsoff eedbackloopsar ei mplement ed
betweenst ackmoni tori
ngelement sandensui ngcorrecti
v eacti
onsby
actuators.

4.Powersuppl ymanagementi sthepar toft hepowerel ectronicssubsy stem that

adaptstheel ectri
calpowerout putoft hefuel celltotheloadrequi r
ement s.
Dependingont heapplicati
on,thedemandmaybedr ivenbet owar dshort‐ti
me
and/orlarge‐scaleloadchangest hatt hefuel cellal
oneisnotabl et oanswerdue
tolagtimesi nsy st
em ancill
arycomponent ssuchascompr essor sandpumps.
Thedy nami cresponseoft hefuel cellcanbeenhancedbyener gystoragebuf fers
l
ikebatteriesorcapacitors.Ther esponset imewi l
lbereducedf rom secondsor
evenhundr edsofsecondst omi ll
iseconds.Int hecaseofst ationaryfuel cell
appli
cations,thepowersuppl ymanagementsubsy st
emsmustal soincor por
atea
specialcontroldeviceforint
eractingwi ththel ocalgri
d,all
owingf orexampl e
shutdownordi sconnecti
ondur ingapowerout age.

Thet argetapplicati
onulti
mat el
ydictatesthefuelcellsystem desi
gnandt he
choiceoff uel
deliv
er y
.Inportablesystemsforinstance,thereisastr
ong
i
ncent i
v etomi nimizethesizeofcomponent sandav oidtheuseofancill
aries.
Directorr efor
medmet hanolfuelsystemsmaypr ovi
deener gydensit
y
i
mpr ov ement scompar edtodi r
ecthydrogenstoragesol uti
ons.Adeli
catet r
ade‐
offisnecessar ybet weenthesizeoft hefuelcel
lunitandt hesizeofthefuel
reservoir.Inuti
li
ty‐
scalestati
onarypowergener ati
on, durabi
li
tyandeffi
ciencyare
ofpr
imeimpor
tance.Refor
mednat
uralgasandbiogasar
ethel
eadi
ngf
uel
sol
uti
onsduet
ot hei
rwideavai
l
abi
l
ityandlowcost.

6.
2Adv
ant
agesofHy
drogenFuelCel
l

Ef
fi
ciency
Fuelcellscombi nemanyoft headv antagesofbot hi nternalcombust ionengines
(ICE)andbat teri
es.Thankstot hedirectconv er
sionofchemi calener gyinto
electr
icalenergy,fuelcell
sare2‐3t i
mesasef fi
cientasI CEsforv ehicle
propulsion:t
henetel ectri
caleff
ici
encyofaPEMFCr angesbet ween40andabov e
50%i nadr iv
ingschedul e,whichisfavour abl
ycompar edt othe21‐ 24%ef f
iciency
rangeofI CEs“ from welltowheel”,i.
e.accountingf ort hetypeoff uel usedandi t
s
entir
el i
fecycle.Nowi fweaddi nt hecalculati
onst her eformingpr ocessof
gasolineandmet hanolortheuseofcompr essedhy drogeni nt hecal culat
ionsthe
effi
cienciesare33, 38,andabout50%, respecti
vely.

Int
eresti
ngly
,thefuel cel
leff
iciencydoesnotdr opf orsmall
sy stemsbecauseit
doesnotdependoni tssize:unli
kegast urbinesforexamplethatsufferf
rom
scaleeff
ects,smallfuelcell
dev icesarequiteasef f
ici
entaslargerones.
Accountingforenergylossesinanci ll
ari
estheef f
ici
encyissomewhatl owered
butisinanycasehighert hanconv ent
ionalsystems.

ReducedEmi
ssi
ons
Becausef uelcellsareelect
r ochemical
systemsanddonotr el
yoncombust ion,
theyar
et hecl eanestfuel‐
consumi ngenergytechnol
ogy,withnear
‐zer
osmog‐
causi
ngemi ssions.Theypr oducebenefit
sinallappl
icat
ions:powergenerat
ion,
i
ndustri
alequi pment,transpor t
ati
on,mil
it
arypowerandconsumerel ectr
onics.
Theemi ssionspr oducedbyaf uel cellsy stem stronglydependont hefuelused
anditsorigin.Forexampl e,aFCv ehiclepr oducesonl ywat erifitisfedby
compr essedhy drogen,someCO, CO2andCH4i fitisfedwi thet hanol
,and
addit
ionalSO2i fitisfedwithgasol i
ne.Underf uelcelloperati
on, undesir
able
productssuchascar bonmonoxi deCO, sulphuroxi desSOxorni t
rogenoxides
NOx, ashesandcar bonparti
culat
eemi ssi onsar ev i
rtuall
yzero.Pr oducedby
waterelectroly
sisfrom renewableel ectricity
.Emi ssionsofpol lutantsare
i
ncreasedf orelectri
cit
yfrom thegr i
d, i
.e.ami xtureoft hermal,nuclearand
renewablesour ces.

Rel
iabi
li
ty,
lowmai
ntenanceandqui
etness
Fuelcel
l
scanhel pprovi
destabi
l
ityandconti
nuitytotheelect
ri
cgr i
dsincethey
canmaintainacont i
nuousbasepowerinparallelwi
thorindependentofthegrid.
Fuelcel
l
spr ovidehighqual
it
ypowerwi t
houtanyr i
skofpowerout age.Theyhav e
morepredictableperf
ormanceoverwideroperati
ngtemper at
urerangesthanlead
aci
dbatteri
es.

Fuelcell
scanber echargedev er
ywherewithi
naf ewminutesbyrefuel
lingwhi l
e
batt
eri
eshav etobepl uggedinfort
ime‐consumingrecharge(andeventually
repl
aced).Theyoperateatconstantpeakper f
ormancefrom f
uelrepl
eni shmentto
depl
etion.Ther
eforeoper at
ionti
meiswel l
‐knownanddirect
lyproport
ional t
othe
amountoff uelsuppl
ied.

Fuel cell
ssystemshavepr acti
call
ynor otati
ngorev enmov i
ngparts.Cert
ain
typesoff uelcel
ls(PEMFC, SOFC)ar eal lsol
idstatethuscl
osetomechani cal
ly
i
deal .Thismeanslessnoiseandpot entiall
yreducedmai nt
enancewor k(and
relatedcosts)besi
desrefuell
ing.Stationaryfuelcell
srequi
reonlymi ni
mal
mai ntenance(onceever
yonet othreey ears)compar edtomonthlyorquarter
ly
sitev i
sit
stoleadacidbat
t ery
‐basedi nstall
ati
ons.

Fuelcell
sarerelat
ivelysil
entsy st
emsmakingthem suit
ableforresi
dent
ialar
eas.
Theonlypartsthatar el
iabletocausemoderatenoisearethepiecesofancil
l
ary
equipmentli
kefans, compr essorsandpumps.Noiselevel
smeasur edon
stat
ionarysy
stemsar etypi
callyaslowas50‐60dB.
 Sust
ainabi
li
ty
Fuel cell
sarepower edbyhy drogen,t hemostabundantel ementi nt heUni verse.
Hy drogencanbepr oducedf rom av ar i
etyofsour cesi ncl udi ngf ossilfuels,natur
al
gas, methanol,andv ar i
ousr enewabl eener gysour ces: wind, photov olt
aic,
geot hermic,
wav es,et c.Thisisakeypoi ntassetf rom t heper spectiveof
greenhousegasr educt ionandf ol
low‐ onprocessoft heKy ot oConf erence.Fuel
cellsareessent i
al toachi evingcar bonr eductiongoal s,wi thCO2r educt i
on
rangingf r
om 40%orbet terusingconv enti
onal fuelstonear ly100%usi ng
renewabl ederivedhy drogen, ascompar edt oconv entional powersour ces.Fuel
cellscancont r
ibut et ot hewor l
dsendofdependenceonhy drocar bons.Theycan
great l
ysimpli
fyt hesequest rationofCO2f rom hydr ocar bonf uels,enabl i
ngt he
useofdomest ically‐producedf uelsincludingcoal ,biomassandhy drogen.Duet o
theirlowenv i
ronment al footpri
nt ,
fuel cell
sarear eali
st icopt ioninsev eralfiel
ds
concer nedbyt hecl i
mat echangedebat e:automot i
ve, resident i
al,i
ndust ri
al.

Compact
ness
Fuelcel
lsoff
erhigherener
gydensi
tyandhi
gherst
oragecapaci
tycomparedt
o
batt
eri
es,andthusgoodcompactness,whi
chi
saninter
esti
ngfeatur
eespeci
all
y
forport
ableappl
icat
ions.

Modul
ari
tyandf
lexi
bil
it
y
Fuelcel
lsall
owi ndependentscalingbetweenpower( deter
minedbyt hefuelcel
l
si
ze)andcapaci ty(det
erminedbyt hefuelreserv
oirsize).Thefuelcel
lsizecanbe
adaptedbysimpl ychangingthenumberofel ementarycell
sandt heacti
v ear
ea.
Scal
eupi sthereforeveryeasy,fr
om theW r angeofacel lphonetotheMW r ange
ofapowerut i
li
typlant.Forminiatur
izedsystemst echniquesderi
vedf r
om
microel
ectr
onicsar ebeingdeveloped.

Fuelcel
lsar etheideal sol
uti
onwhenspacei sli
mitedorweighti
saconcer n,
off
eri
ngcl eanandqui etoperati
oni nawiderangeofinst
all
ati
oncondit
ions.For
example,ther educedf ootpr
intrequir
ementsfornormalroof
toploadi
nglimits,
andzero‐emi ssioncombi nedwithsi l
entoper
ati
onmaket hem hi
ghlysuit
ablefor
i
ndoor/outdoor ,urban/rur
alapplicati
ons.
I
naddit
ion,t
heycanbef
uel
l
edbyav
ari
etyoff
uel
sincl
udi
ngi
nter
mit
tent
r
enewableener
gy.

6.
3IssuesofHy
drogenFuelCel
l
Ther
ear et
hreemai
nbar
ri
ersr
emai
ningt
owi
despr
eadadopt
ionoft
hef
uel
cel
l
t
echnology:

-Cost

-Dur
abi
l
ity

-Lackofhy
drogeni
nfr
ast
ruct
ure

Thel ackofhy drogeni nf

rast ructurehasl ongbeenconsi der edthebi ggest
obst acleinpar t
icularf orintroduct ionoff uel cellvehicl
es,althought hisquestion
resembl est hecl assicchicken‐ and‐eggpr oblem (therearenoFCVsbecauset her
e
arenohy drogenf uell
ingst ations, butther ear enohy dr
ogenf uel
li
ngst ati
ons
becauset hereisnodemandf orhy drogenasf uelforFCVs…) .Establi
shingt he
necessar yinf r
ast r
uctur eforhy drogenpr oduct ion,transportanddi stri
bution
woul drequi resignifi
cantcapi talinv est
ment ,butther eisnoabsol utei mpediment,
sincehundr edsofhy drogenr efuellingstat i
onsal r
eadyexi sti ntheU.S.A.,Japan,
andEur ope.Obv iously ,l
egislationandst andar dsar ehowev erstil
lmissing.Ina
recentpaperpubl i
shedbyGener al Mot ors,itisprojectedthatconsumer swi ll
not
hav etopaysi gnifi
cant lymor ef orhy dr
ogent hangasol ineint helongerterm and
alsot hatthekeychal lenger emai nsmat chingscal eandt imingofhy drogen
i
nv estmentwi thact ual hydrogendemand

Weshoul
daddt
othel
i
stt
hepubl
i
caccept
anceofadai
l
yuseofhy
drogen.
 6.
4Appl
icat
ionofFuelCel
l

6.
4.1Aut
omot
iveappl
i
cat
ions(
50‐
250kW)
Thissecti
onisli
mitedtotheappli
cati
onoffuel
cell
sforli
ght‐dut
yv ehi
cleandbus
propulsi
on.Theotherr
elatedappli
cat
ionasanauxi
li
arypoweruni tonboardthe
vehicl
ewillbet
reatedi
nt henextsect
ionnamed“Nichetransportappli
cat
ions”.

a.Li
ght
‐dut
yvehi
cles(
50kW)
Almostallmajorcarmanuf acturershav edemonst ratedpr ototypef uelcell
vehi
clesandhav eannouncedpl ansf orpr oductionandcommer ciali
zationinthe
neartomi dter
mf uture(5‐
10y ears).Ther acetodev elopav iabl
ef uel cellvehi
cle
andbringittomar ketbegandur i
ngt he1990sandcont i
nuest oday .Thebi g
dri
versforthedev el
opmentofaut omot i
vef uelcell
technol ogyar ei t
sef fici
ency,
l
oworzer oemi ssions,andfuelthatcoul dbepr oducedf rom l ocal sourcesr at
her
thanimpor t
ed.Themai nobstaclesf orfuelcellcommer ciali
zationi naut omobiles
arethecostofcomponent sandt heav ail
abili
tyofhy drogen.

Fi
g6.
1li
ght
-dut
yvehi
cles
Theonlyfuelcel
ltechnol
ogysatisf
yingt
obothtemperat
ureandti
mer esponse
cri
teri
aforvehi
clepropul
sionisthePEMFC.Thelowoperati
ngtemper
at ur
e
combinedwi t
hgooddur abil
i
tyandrangemakesiti
dealforusei
nli
ghtduty
vehicl
e.Powerrangeisabout50kW.

PEMFCsmeett he4000hlif
etimetargetf
orautomoti
veappl
icat
ionsatthe
l
abor at
oryscal
e.Theeff
ectofr eal
‐l
if
econdit
ionsonthef
uelcel
lsyst
em
(repeat
edstart
-upsandshutdowns, i
mpuri
ti
esinfuel
andair
,lowandhigh
temperatur
es)hastobeassessedmor et
horoughl
y.

Start
-upandsteadyoperati
oninextr
emelycoldcli
mates(‐40°C)requi
respeci
fi
c
watermanagementcont rol
s,wher
east heheatr
eject
ionsystem mustbesizedfor
hotweathercondit
ions(+40°C)
.Waterbalancei
sapr er
equisiteinaPEMFCf or
optimaloper
ati
on;thisr
esult
salsoinanadditi
onalcool
ingsy stem.

Fourconf
igur
ati
onsar
epossi
blei
naFuel
Cel
lVehi
cle(
FCV)
:

Thef uelcelli
ssi zedtopr ovi
deallthepowerneeded.Duet ot heslowerr esponse
offuel pr
ocessor s(reformers),t
hisconfigurationonl yappliesf orfastdynamic
hydrogen‐fedv ehicl
es.Asmal l
batterymaybepr esentbutf orst ar
t-uponly.
I
nt hepar al
lelhybridconfigurat
ion,thefuelcell i
ssizedt opr ovidethebasel oad,
butthepeakpowerf orstart-
upandaccel er
ationi sprovidedbyabat t
ery
.The
batteryall
owsr apidstar t
-upwithoutpreheatingoft hef uelpr ocessorand
recapturi
ngoft hebr akingenergy,resul
tinginamor eeffici
entsy stem.

Intheserialhybri
dconf
igur
ati
on,thefuel
cell
issizedtorechar
gethebatt
eryand
thebatterydri
vestheel
ectr
icmotor.Therel
ati
vesizesofthebatt
eryandthefuel
cellar
et i
edup: asmall
erbatt
erywil
lhavetoberechargedfast
erandwil
lresul
tin
alargerfuelcell
.

Fuelcell
servesonlyasanauxil
i
arypowerunit
,thati
s,notforpr
opulsi
on.Thi
s
confi
gurati
onisattr
acti
vefori
dli
ngtr
ucksrequi
ringoperat
ionofair
-condi
ti
oni
ng
orref
riger
ati
onsy st
ems.

Thediff
icult
yofstori
nghydr
ogenonboardavehi
cle,
aswellaslackofhydrogen
i
nfrast
ructurehasfor
cedcarmanufact
urer
stoconsi
derother
,moreconv eni
ent
ly
suppli
edfuels.I
nthatcaset
hefuel
cellmustbei
ntegrat
edwithafuelpr
ocessor
thatproduceshy dr
ogenfrom gasol
i
neormethanol
.However,
apartf
rom bei
nga
nonzer o‐
emissionprocess,
onboardref
ormi
ngisnoteasyandrai
sesnumerous
engineeri
ngissues:

Onboar
dref
ormi
ngr educest
heov er
all
eff
ici
encyoft
hepr
opul
sionsy
stem,
whichl
eadst
oupgradethefuelcel
lsi
ze;

Onboardref
ormingenhancescompl
exi
ty,
size,
wei
ght
,andcostoft
he
propul
sionsyst
em;

Start
-upti
meoff uel
processorsi
stool
ongi
npr
act
ice:
thi
sissuemaybe
avoidedinhybr
idconfi
gurat
ions;

Durabi
l
ityissuesoft
hePEMFCduet
oimpur
it
iesi
nther
efor
mat
ehy
drogenhav
e
beenevidenced.

Manycarmanuf actur ersar eper fectingt heirpr opr

ietaryPEM uni tsf orusei nt heir
vehicles, e.g.Hondawi t
ht heFCXCl ari
t y,Gener alMot orswi thfuelcell‐powered
Chev roletVol tandEqui noxmodel s,andVol kswagenwi thfuelcell‐
power ed
Tour anandTi guanmodel s.Whi l
eAhy drogenf uelcellvehicledoesnotgener ate
anypol lutionandi squal ifi
edasZer oEmi ssionVehi cle(ZEV) .I
fanot herf ueli
s
usedandr efor medonboar d,thepr opulsionsy stem hassomeemi ssions
gener ateddur i
ngt her eformi ngpr ocess, butt hoseemi ssionsar eingener al
st il
l
muchl owert hantheemi ssionsf r
om ani nt ernal combust i
onengi ne( ICE);
thereforet hef uelcel lv ehiclesusi ngaf uelr efor meraret ypical
lyqual i
fiedasUl tr
a
LowEmi ssionVehi cles( ULEV) .Fuel cell‐
power edv ehi
clesal sogener ate
signifi
cant lylessgr eenhousesgasest hant hecompar ablegasol ine‐,diesel‐
,or
met hanol ‐power edI CEs.
 Fi
g6.
2hy
drogenf
uel
cel
lcar
s

Hy drogeni st heonl yfuelthatr esultsi nazer o‐emi ssionv ehicle,par t

icul arlyif
hydrogeni spr oducedf rom r enewabl esour ces.Useofhy drogenast r
anspor tati
on
fuelcoul dr educedependencyoni mpor tedoi l.Af uel cel lsystem t hatr unson
purehy drogeni srelati
velysi mpl e,hast hebestper formance, runsmor eef fi
ciently
,
andhast hel ongestst ackl ife.Hy drogeni snont oxicand, despitei t
sr eput ation,
hassomev er ysaf efeatures.Oneoft hebi ggestpr oblemsr elatedt ohy dr ogen
usei npassengercar sisitsonboar dst or age.Hy dr ogencanbest oredas
compr essedgas, ascr yogeni cli
qui d,orinmet alhy dri
des.Tanksf orgaseous
hydrogenar ebul ky,andt heamountt obest oreddependsont hef uel efficiency
andt her equi redr ange( typicall
y300mi lesor500km) .Inor dert oachi ev eabet ter
mat chbet weent hest oragecapaci tiesoft het ank, thef uel efficiencyoft hecar
andi tsr ange, furtherimpr ov ement si nvehi cl edesi gn, introduct ionofnew
l
ightwei ghtcomposi t
emat erial
s, andcompr essionofhy drogenat700bar sar e
mandat or y.thef i
rstonei sbasedonaspeci fi
cf uel cell design, alltheot her sare
derivedf r om st andar dICEs, withmer erepl acementoft hepr opul sionengi nebya
fuelcel lsy stem.Al oneamongstt hemaj oraut omaker s, BMW i sdev elopi nga
SOFC‐ basedauxi li
arypoweruni tfori t
s7‐ser i
esl uxur ycarmodel .

b.Buses(
250kW)
 Busesforci t
yandr egi
onaltr
ansportareconsider
edthemostl ikelytypeof
vehi
clesf oranearlymarketi
ntroducti
onofthePEMFCt echnology .Mostofthe
i
ssuesdi scussedintheprevi
oussect i
on,Li
ghtDutyVehi cl
es,alsoappl yfort
he
fuel
cellapplicat
ionsinbuses.Themaj ordi
ffer
encesarei npowerr equir
ements,
operati
ngcondi t
ionsandresult
inglif
eti
me,spaceav ai
l
abl eforhy drogenstor
age,
andrefuelli
ngsit
es.

Busesrequi
retypi
cal
l
y250kW underhi
ghdemanding,int
ermit
tentcondi
ti
ons,
wit
hfrequentst
art
sandstops.Compar
edtot
heirdieselengi
neequival
entthe
ef
fici
encygaini
sabout15%.

Fi
g6.
3Hy
drogenBus(
250kW)

Busesar
eal mostalwaysoper
atedasaf leetandref
uell
edi nacentral
faci
li
ty.
Stor
ageoflargequanti
ti
esofhydrogenonboar d(
therooflocationi
sverysaf
ef or
agasli
ghterthanai
r)isnotaconcern.Thesetwocharacterist
icsmakeuseof
hydr
ogenmucheasi er.

Thankstouseofhy drogen,fuelcellbusesar eZeroEmissionVehi cl

es( ZEVs)
,
whichisabi gadvantageov erdiesel busesindenselypopulatedregions.
Demonst rati
onprogramsf undedf rom localtoint
ernat
ionallevelhaveseen
severalf
leetsoffuelcellbusesdepl oyedinEuropeancities(CleanUr ban
TransportforEuropeprogram) ,
int heU. S.
A.(SunlineTransitAuthor
ityinPalm
Spri
ngs),andi nl
argeciti
eswor l
dwi de( Unit
edNat i
onsDev elopmentPr ogram,
GlobalEnv i
ronmentFacili
ty)
.

Themainobstaclesforcommercial
i
zati
onoffuelcel
lbusesarethei
rcostand
dur
abi
l
ity.Becausetheproduct
ionseri
esforbusesar
esmal l
erthanfor
passengercars, t
heircostperkW i
ssomewhathi
gher,asist
heexpectedl
if
eti
me.
Togetherwiththei nt
ermitt
entoper
ati
ngregi
me,t
hiscouldevent
ual
lychal
l
enge
thecurrentf
uel cellt
echnology.

6.
4.2Ni
chet
ranspor
tappl
icat
ions(
1‐10kW)
Smallmobilef
uelcel
lsyst
emsar edesignedtoproduce1to10kW ofelect
ri
cal
powerwithlowtozer
oemi ssi
ons.Thisappli
cati
onisnotasdemandingas
passengercar
sorbuses.Thepossibl
eapplicat
ionsarever
ydiv
erseandincl
ude:

-Ut
il
ityandlei
surevehi
cles,mater
ialhandl
ingi
ndust
ri
alv
ehi
cles,e.
g.f
orkl
i
fts,
towtr
ucks,bicy
cles,
scooters,motorbi
kes,gol
fcar
ts;
andwheelchai
rsf
ormobili
ty
assi
stance;

-Ai
rcr
aftandaer
ospaceappl
i
cat
ions;

-Mar
ineandsubmar
ineappl
i
cat
ions;

-Auxi
l
iar
ypoweruni
ts(
APUs)f
oron‐
boar
dpowersuppl
y.

Anauxi li
arypoweruni tiscomposedofasmal lfuel cell syst em (ast acki nt heKW
powerr angeandabal anceofpl antpar t,wit
horwi thoutar eformer ),whichi s
associ atedt oapr imedr i
verenginei .e., i
nternal combust ionengi neorel ect r
ic
mot or, i
nor dertosuppl yaddit
ional powernotr elatedt ot hepr opulsionoft he
vehicle: ai
r‐conditioning, multi
medi apl ayingorot hercomf ortfeatures.Thef uel
celltechnol ogyal l
owspowergener ationwi t
houtengi neoper ati
onandenhances
ther unt imeofbat teries.Thisisespeci all
yagoodpoi ntatt het i
mewher eant i‐
i
dl i
ngr egul ati
onsar eset t
ingplacei nanumberofcount ri
es.Hencef uel cel l
‐
basedAPUsi mpr ov ethepowerf lexibilityoft hev ehi clewi thoutacompl et e
replacementoft heexi sti
ngtechnol ogy ,whichcoul df ost eranear lymar ketupt ake
ofthese“ secondar y ”powersour ces.Mor eov er,thecont i
nuousi ncreasei n
electricaldemandf orl ei
surevehiclesandequi pment sisnowaccompani edbya
desiref orenv ir
onment all
yfri
endlyon‐ boar dconv eni ences.Thegr owt hint his
sectori sbei ngdr i
v enbyt heneedf orcl ean,qui et,ef fi
cientpowerwi t
hext ended
run‐timepar ti
cularlyint hehighendoft hecamper vanandl uxuryboat ingmar ket
s.
Inamar ketlargelyi nsulatedagainstr ecession, consumer sar ewill
ingt opaya
premi um f ort headv antagest hatfuel cellshav eov erbatteriesandgener ators.
Camper vanmanuf acturer shav eunder stoodt hisv erywel landar enowof feri
ng
fuel cel l
‐basedAPUsatl eastasopt i
onal extr
aandev enst andar dequi pment .
Fuel cel l
sf ortheseappl i
cat i
onsar eoft hePEMFCorDMFCt ype, wi t
hasmal l
numberofSOFC‐ baseduni tsessent iall
yf orAPUappl i
cat i
ons.PEMFC‐ based
unitsar el argelydomi nanti nt heaer ospace, aircraftandmat erialshandl i
ng
mar ket swhi leDMFC‐ baseduni t
sar emor eof tenf oundf orleisur e,mar ineand
mobi l
ityassi stancev ehicles.DMFC‐ basedAPUsr unsonmet hanol withouta
refor mer .SOFC‐andPEM‐ basedAPUsusual l
yi ncorporateaf uel reformerbui lt
i
ntot heuni tsot hatthesy stem canr unonal ternat i
vestohy drogen.I napecul iar
mar ketappr oach, t
hesel ectionoff uel determi nest het ypeoff uel cellstackand
ther ef ormert echnol ogy .Ther easonf ort hisfuel diversi
ficationi st hedesi ret o
desi gnt hef uel cellAPUt or unonaf uel thati sr eadil
yav ail
abl etot heenduser .
Thechoi ceoft hesamef uel forthefuel cel l
‐basedAPUast hemai nengi nei sa
speci ficr equi r
ementoft hi sappl i
cation.Todayt hismeansgasol ineordi esel, and
dev elopmentef fortsar ecur rentlygear edt owar dsef fi
cientr eformer sinor dert o
maket hiseco‐ fri
endl yopt ionav ail
ablef orusei ncommer cial t
rucksshor tl
y.

Liket hepor t
ablesect or,themat erialshandl ingsect orisonewher ear ealvalue
proposi t
ionisnowav ailablet owar ehousepr ofessionalsbecausef uel cel
l‐
power edmat erialshandl ingv ehiclesoper atenearsi lently
,wi thnoorf ew
emi ssions, andof ferfasterr efuelli
ng( 1‐3mi nutes)aswel lasl ongerr un‐ti
me
thanl eadaci dbat teri
esandconv ent i
onal int
er nalcombust i
onsengi nes.
Compar edwi thbat tery‐power edequi pment ,fuelcellsystemshav ealsot he
adv antageofnotr equi r
ingl engthyandf loorspace‐ hungr yrechar ges.Mor eover,
capi t
al investmenti slesssi nceasi ngl
ef uel cellwil
loper atecont i
nuousl ywhi l
e
from al ogist
icpoi ntofv i
ew, twoorev ent hreebat teriesareneededperbat tery‐
power edv ehicle.Fuel cell‐basedt wo‐andt hree‐wheel edv ehiclesbasi call
y
combi necl eanandef f i
cientindooroper ationwi thlowerdownt i
me, rapi d
refuelling,extendedr angeandnooper ational degradat i
onov ertime: sincepower
prov i
dedbyt hef uelcell i
sconst antt hroughouteachshi ft,
ther eisno
perfor mancel ossoft hev ehicle.`
Altoget her,l
owerl ifet i
mer unni ngcost sar eexpect edf rom f uel cel l
‐based
syst emst hanf rom t hei requi v alent s.Thi sexpl ainswhyani ncr easi ngnumberof
manuf acturersar edev elopi ngandsel li
ngf uel cell‐power edbi kesandt hree‐
wheel ers.Awor ldwi depot ent ial mar ketexi st sf orexampl ei nnat ional post al
serv icest hatuset housandsofbi kesanddel iv eryt rol ley s.I nt hemat er i
als
handl i
ngmar ket ,fuel cellsseem t obest i
llsomewayof fbei ngaser i
ous
compet it
ort ol ong‐ usedI CEsandaci d‐leadbat t
er ies, butsomeear lyni che
mar ket sar ebei ngact ivelyex plor edandexper iencei scur rent l
ygai nedi n
war ehouseenv ironment sbef or elar gescal edepl oy ment s.Bal lard, Pl ugPower ,
Nuv er aFuel Cel lsandHy dr ogeni sear emai npl ay er si nt hemat erialshandl i
ng
sect orwhoar ecur rent lytest ingpr oduct son‐ site.Fi nal ly, mobi lit
yassi stance
vehi clesar eani nter est i
ngni chemar ketf orl ightf uel cel l sy stems, whi chof feran
extendedr angebutnoneoft hei nconv eni encesofbat ter yr echar ging.SFCSmar t
Fuel Cel l
sf r
om Ger manyandAj usaf rom Spai nhav eshi ppedt ensofuni tsfor
i
mpai r
edcust omer si n2008i nt heaer ospaceandai rcr af tsect ors, successf ultest
fl
ight shav ebeenr epor tedi nr ecenty ear s, aswel lasacont inueddev elopmentof
fuel cel l
sf orauxi li
ar ypoweruni tsonboar dl argerai rcr af ts.Duet ot heirsi l
entness
andl ongr unt i
me, unmannedaer i
al v ehi cles( UAVs)ar eespeci allyat t r
act i
vein
thedef enceandaer ospacef ieldsf orhandl ingmi li
t aryr econnai ssance,
surv eill
ancemi ssi ons, orr emot ecommuni cat ionsi nst rictsecr ecy .Ot herci vi
li
an
appl icat i
onsar est udi edl i
ker emot esci ent i
ficdat acol lect i
onunderhar sh
condi t
ions, disast err eliefmi ssi ons… I ti sunl i
kel yt hatf uel cellswi l
l beusedasa
primar ysour ceofpowerf orcommer cial aircraf tsanyt imesoon, but
demonst rationi sbei ngmadet hatt heyar eabl et ooper at eunderext reme
condi t
ions: lowt emper atur esandpr essur es, andunusual spat ial ori
ent ations;
hencet heycoul dpr ov i
deef fi
ci entener gyf oron‐ boar del ect ri
cal sy stemsi n‐
fl
ightorunder gr oundoper at i
on: heat i
ng/ cool ing, ent ert ainmentdev ices, andev en
essent ialcont rol si nt heai rcr aft,ther ebyr educi ngf uel consumpt i
on.Her eaf uel
cellAPUmayof f erbet teref ficiencyt hant urbi neAPUsusedt odayi nspi teoft he
necessar yker osener eformer .Asaf urt heradv ant age, in‐ flightpr oduct ionof
wat eri sunderi nv est igationbysev er al ai rcraftcompani es, e.g.Ai rbus.I nthe
mar inesect or ,legi slat i
oni sl ikel ytoactasakeydr i
v erf ort headopt i
onoff uel
cells.Newr est rictingpol iciesr equi ringl oworzer oemi ssi onf orv essel sincer tai
n
ri
ver s, l
akesandi nl andwat er way sinChi naandEur ope, aswel lasgr owi ng
pressur eonr egul atingpol l
utantemi ssionsinhar bours,incoast alwater sandon
thehi ghseas, areaf avour ablegr oundf ortheupt akeoff uel cell
sasAPUson
boar dv essel st oreduceov erallemi ssionsandal sofordev elopmentoff uel cel
ls
asmai nmeansofpr opul sion.Thi shasal r
eadycausedadoubl i
ngofuni t
shipment si n2008( mai nlyinEur ope)andt het r
endwi l
lsupposedl yaccel eratein
thef orthcomi ngy ear s.Pr otonMot orsZer oEmi ssionShi pist hefir
stfuel cell
repulsedboat :asademonst rati
onpr oj
ectithascar r
iedpassenger ssi nceJul y
2008i nHambur gshar bour .Ot herpr oof‐of
‐conceptpr oject
sofl ow‐emi ssionand
l
ow‐ noi sef uel cell
‐power edorbat teryhy bri
dsy stemsar eunderdev elopmentf or
i
ntegr ationi ncanal bar ges, tugorr iverboat s.Sil
entoper at
ioni sofut most
i
mpor tancef orcer tainappl i
cat i
onsl i
kesci enti
ficstudiesofseaani mal s.Nat i
onal
gov ernment sandt heI nt ernationalMar iti
meOr ganisati
onar ei ntheprocessof
votingf urtherr educt ionsofpol l
utantandnoi seemi ssionsandnewl awswi ll
certainlyfol l
ow.Cl ear l
y,ther eisagr eatoppor t
uni t
yforfuel cell
satt het i
meof
regulationi nt hemar i
neenv ironment .

6.
4.3Por
tabl
eappl
icat
ions(
0.1‐
100W)
I
ntheportablesector,i
ndustri
ali
nterestforfuelcell
sintheW powerrangeis
gr
eatbecauseofr ecurr
entissuesinherenttobat t
erytechnol
ogi
es(Nickel
‐Metal
Hydr
ate,Li
thium‐IonorLit
hium‐Polymer )
.Signif
icati
veimprovement
sar epossibl
y
br
oughtbyf uelcell
sinthi
sfiel
d:

Fuelcell
shav
eahigherener
gydensi
tyt
hanbatt
eri
es,i
.e.theypr
ovi
demor
e
energyperuni
tofwei
ght,upt
o5timesmore.Thi
sall
owsl ongerr
unti
mebef
ore
ref
uell
ing.

Por
tabl
efuelcellsyst
emsincl
udi
ngthefuelst
oragecont
ainercanbedesi
gned
smal
lerandli
ghterthanabatt
eryofequi
val
entpower.

Conti
nuousoper at
ionoffuelcell
s(aslongasf uelissuppli
ed)meansal
so
l
ongerstandbytime( dependi
ngont hefuelreservoi
rvolume),not
ime‐
consumingrechargeandassociatedlogist
ics(e.g.,
needforsever
aluni
tsf
or
batt
eryexchange),andlessdegradati
onoft hecomponent s.
Mi cr
opowerappl i
cati
onsoff uel cell
sar ety
picall
ythesameasbat teri
es, i
.e.all
electr
onicdev i
cesf ornomadusel ikemobi l
ephones, l
aptopcomput ers,
per sonal
digit
alassistants,cameras, andmusi cormul ti
mediaplayers.Ot herapplications
arefoundi npor tabl
emi l
itary,healthcareorcampi ngtool
s.Int heseappl i
cat i
ons
fuelcell
sar eexpect edtor epl
acebat t
eriesthanksmainlytot hei
rhigherst orage
capacity.Conv ersi
onef f
icienciesar eoflessimpor t
anceasl ongast heydonot
restr
ictautonomy .

Microfuelcel l
sareoft heDMFCort hePEMFCt ype; t
heyr unatl owtemper atur
es
onli
quidmet hanol,for
mi cacid,orhy dr
ogenst oredi nlowpr essur ehydr i
de
contai
ners.Theoper at
iont emper atureshoul dnotexceed50t o60° C,whi ch
excl
udest heuseofar eformer .Further,itisimpor t
antthatthef uelstoragemust
achi
eveahi ghlevelofsecur i
ty.Useofl i
quidhi gh‐pr essurehy drogenisofcour se
excl
udedaswel l
.Inthi
sf i
eldPEMFCswi thchemi calhydrogenst oragear e
competingwi t
hDMFCs.Whi l
ePEMFCshav eahi gherpowerdensi tythanDMFCs,
chemicalhy dri
desol ut
ionsar enotr eadyf ormar ketyet.PortableDMFC‐ based
microfuelcel l
shav ebeenf ir
stdemonst ratedbyToshi ba, Smar tFuelCel l
andMTI
MicroFuel Cells.Anincreasingnumberofcompani esar ealsodev elopingDMFC‐
basedfuel cellcart
ri
dges, eit
herasst and‐alonepr oducts( BI
C, Gill
ett
e;Neah
Power)orf orpower ingtheirownconsumerel ectronicspor t
foli
o( Motor ol
a,
Hit
achi,Panasoni c,Sony).Mot orolaexpect sitsf uelcell
st orunabout10t i
mes
l
ongerthant odaysbatteri
esbef oreneedi ngt ober echarged.

Fi
g6.
5Fuel
cel
lpowerbanks
SmartFuelCellissel li
ngawi der angeofDMFC‐ basedpr oduct s;from 50W‐ units
tar
get
edt other ecreat i
onalmar ket ,topor tabledocki ngst ationsf orlaptop
computers.Ther eal chall
engei st hemi ni
at uri
zat i
onoft hesy stem, whichmay
consi
stofeitherscal ingdownt hedi fferentcomponent sofl ar gerexisti
ngst acks
ordevel
opingaspeci ficarchi
tect urebasedf orinstanceonsi licone‐supported
thi
nfi
lmsder iv
edf rom mi croelect ronics.Eachoft hesesol utionsimpl i
esa
speci
fi
cmanagementoft hev ariousf luxesi nt hef uelcell
:fluxofr eact
antgases,
fl
uxofproductswat erandheat .Thecr ucial pointforthemi crof uelcelli
sto
handl
eapowersur geuponswi tchi ngt hedev i
cef rom idl
et oact i
ve.

Thecur r
enttr
endf orport
abl edev i
cesisanev ergrowingpowerdemandi n
conjuncti
onwiththeiri
ncreasingnumberofI nternetfuncti
onali
ti
es.Ther efor
e,the
advantagesoffuelcell
sofst oringmor epoweri nthesamev olume,forlonger
ti
mewhi l
ebei
ngabl etorefuel theproductquicklyinsteadofrechargingwi l
lbe
hopefull
yseenbymostconsumer sasanot herar eaforfr
eedom andl eadt oa
progressi
vedecayoft hebat t
er y‐
basedtodayt echnology.Furt
hermor e,standard
batteri
esonuset odayli
kelithium‐ionbatteri
esar equiteexpensi
vet hemsel vesso
thatthecostbarr
ierfortheintroductiontofuel cell
stotheportabl
emar ketis
l
owert haninotherappli
cations.

6.
5UseofBy
-pr
oduct
s
6.
5.1I
deat
out
il
isePr
oducedWat
er
APEM Fuel Celluti
l
isesHydrogenandOxy gentoproduceelectri
cit
y.Insi mpl
e
termsiti
st her ever
seelectr
olysi
sofwater.Meaningthat,i
nelectr
olysiswepass
elect
ri
cit
ythr oughwat ert
opr oduceHy
dr ogenandOxy gen,whereasinr ever
se
elect
rol
ysishy drogenandoxy gencombinetoproduceelectri
cit
yalongsi dewater
.

Thi
swateri
spureH2O.Alt
houghthi
scannotbeusedf
ordai
l
ydr
inki
ngpur
pose,
it
hasav
ariet
yofpot
enti
aluseasin:

 Fordi
sti
l
lat
ioni
nheav
ybat
ter
ies.

I
nchemi
cal
testl
abor
ator
ieswher
edi
sti
l
ledwat
eri
susedwi
del
y.
 I
nchemi
cal
plant
s.

6.
5.2I
deat
out
il
isePr
oducedHeat
Heatisalsoamajorbi
-pr
oductof fuel
cell
.Ifdesi
gnedsmar
tl
ythi
sheatcanbe
ut
il
izedforadi
ff
erentf
orm ofener
gyproducti
on.

Thefuelcel
lacti
vi
typroducesheat
.Thi
sheatisawasteaswel
lasathr
eatf
orthe
fuel
cell
.excessi
veproducti
onofheatwi
t hi
mproperdi
ff
usi
onmaydamagethe
prot
onexchangemembr anei
nPEM fuelcel
l
.

Wepr oposethatthi
sproducedheatcanbeusedt opr oduceelectri
cit
yv i
aPelter
Eff
ect.Thismaybei nsi
gnif
icantforsmallfuel
cellbutcangi vepromisingresult
s
wit
hlargerfuelcel
lofsay500kW, l
iketheonecurrentlybeingusedbyBal lar
d
I
ndustri
es.MotorssuchasTher moEl ectr
icmot or
scanal sober unbyt hi
swast e
heatsoast odecreasethetotalworkoutputfr
om thef uelcel
l.

CONCLUSI
ON

Af uel cel
l i
sadev icet hatconvertst
hechemi calenergyfrom afuel i
nto
electrici
tythroughachemi calreacti
onwithoxy genoranot heroxi
dizing
agent .Hy drogenist hemostcommonf uel,buthy drocar
bonssuchas
natural gasandal cohol sli
kemet hanolaresomet i
mesused.Fuel cel
lsare
diff
er entfrom batteriesinthattheyrequi
reaconst antsourceoffuel and
oxy gent orun,butt heycanpr oduceelectr
icit
ycont inual
lyforaslongas
thesei nputsar esuppl i
ed.

Asthemai ndiff
er enceamongf uelcellt
ypesistheelect
rolyte,f
uel cell
sare
cl
assifi
edbyt hety peofel ectrol
ytetheyuse.Fuelcell
scomei nav arietyof
si
zes.Indiv
idualfuel cel
lspr oducev er
ysmal lamountsofelect r
icit
y,about
0.
7v olt
s,socellsar e"stacked" ,
orplacedinseriesorparal
lel ci
rcuit
s, t
o
i
ncreasethev ol
tageandcur rentoutputtomeetanappl i
cationspower
generati
onrequirement s.Inaddi ti
ontoelectr
ici
ty,f
uelcell
spr oducewat er
,
heatand,dependingonthefuelsource,
ver
ysmal lamountsofnitrogen
di
oxideandot heremissi
ons.Theenergyef
fici
encyofafuel cel
li
sgener al
l
y
between40-60%, orupto85%effici
enti
fwasteheatiscapturedforuse.

Forthisprojectourgr oupdugdeepi ntoalesserknownt opictogener alpubli

cas
weseehugepot enti
al forthi
sdev i
ceinthefuture,fr
om aut omot i
vei ndust
riesto
manuf acturi
nguni t
s.Ourguessi sthatonedayt hi
swi llbeoneoft heleading
sourceofpowersuppl yinawor ldofdeplet
ingpet r
oleum pr oducts.Ofcour sethi
s
i
snotaf ull
-proof-
no-errordev i
cebutshouldbepr omot edf orresearchand
development .Ourgroupdi dthebestwecoul dwi t
hthel imitedsour ceswehadt o
gatherasmuchi nformat ionaspossiblewiththoroughgui danceofourest eemed
gui
de.
 REFERENCES
Speci
fi
cref
erences

1.
wiki
pedi
a.com

2.ht
tps:
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icanhi
stor
y.si
.edu/
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cel
l
s/or
igi
ns/
ori
g4.
htm

3.ht
tps:
//en.
wiki
pedi
a.or
g/wi
ki
/Fr
anci
s_Thomas_
Bacon

4.ht
tps:
//www.
nyt
imes.
com/
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07/
04/
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ness/
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ogen-
car
s-t
rai
ns-
planes-
hamburg.ht
ml

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htt
ps:
//www.
pragma-
indust
ri
es.
com/
technol
ogy
/fuel
-cel
l
-expl
ained/

6.ht
tps:
//amer
icanhi
stor
y.si
.edu/
fuel
cel
l
s/basi
cs.
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htt
ps:
//www.
pragma-
indust
ri
es.
com/
technol
ogy
/fuel
-cel
l
-expl
ained/

8.
htt
ps:
//www.
ener
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gov
/eer
e/f
uel
cel
l
s/hy
drogen-
product
ion-
elect
rol
ysi
s

9.
htt
ps:
//www.
ener
gy.
gov
/eer
e/f
uel
cel
l
s/hy
drogen-
product
ion-
nat
ural
-gas-
ref
orm
i
ng}z

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htt
ps:
//doi
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htt
ps:
//www.
ener
gy.
gov
/eer
e/f
uel
cel
l
s/phy
sical
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drogen-
stor
age}

Gener
alr
efer
ences

 Wi
ki
pedi
a.com

 Pr
agmai
ndust
ri
es-
inf
o

 Googl
e.com

 Bal
l
ardi
ndust
ri
es

 Fuel
-cel
lst
ore.