Alternate Fuel Cells

ABHIGAM- 2007

ALTERNATE FUELS-FUEL CELLS

Pr

Presented by:

G.SURESH BABU

[email protected]

A.SOWMYA

[email protected]

Sreenidhi institute of science and technology

Yamnampet-ghatkesar

ALTERNATE FUELS-FUEL CELLS

ABSTRACT

Alternative fuels have become very important owing to increased environmental protection
concern, the need to reduce dependency on petroleum and even socioeconomic aspects.In this
paper we have discussed the various types of alternate fuels and we tried to bring out the Fuel
cell Technology in to the limelight. Fuel cells represent fundamentally different powertrain
technology for automobiles that competes technically with the internal combustion engine,which
has traditionally been a core competence of automobile manufacturers. The long term solution to
all the challenges put forth by the fossil fuels will be the transition to a hydrogen based energy
economy.Eventually we use renewable energy sources (wind, biomass,solarhydroelectric,etc)to
electrolyze water into hydrogen.Fuel cells will use the hydrogen to power our portable electronic
devices,homes,businesses,and cars producing only water in the process. This paper presents a
model of the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel C ell (PEMFC ) suitable for system simulations. It is
capable of modeling the transient behavior and distributed nature of the cell. This presentation will
provide an overview of fuel cell technology and apresent a likely scenario on for the
commercialization of fuel cells.The parallels between the development of this technology ,its
potential development of the fuel cell industry and mainly the applications of fuel cells in various
fields. The paper evaluates the applications to stimulate the development and market introduction
of fuel cells from a comparative perspective in order to assess respective lead market potential.

1. INTRODUCTION:

Alternative fuel , also known as non-conventional fuels, is any material that can be used as a
fuel , other than fossil fuels , or conventional fuels of petroleum (oil), coal , propane , and natural
gas .The term "alternative fuels" usually refers to a source of which energy is renewable.

Heavy vehicles are essential to our commerce and to our quality of life. However this high-
mileage, high-fuel-use vehicles emit particulate matter, nitrogen oxide, and other pollutants at
levels much higher than the emissions levels of light-duty vehicles. Heavy-duty fleets that sit
idling expend fuel and steadily release harmful emissions into the air. Using alternative fuels in
these vehicles can make a huge difference in our nation's air quality and energy security.

Some of the alternate fuels are :

• Biodiesel

• Electricity

• Ethanol

• Methanol

• Natural gas

• Propane

• Pseries

• Fuel cell

2. FUEL CELL DEVELOPMENT-HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE:

• 1839, Grove invented Fuel cells.

• 1959, bacon developed a 5KW alkaline fuel cell system.

• 1950s GE developed PEMFC technology.

• 1960s Fuel cells first used in Apollo space missions.

• 1980s Fuel cells used in submarines by US navy.

• 2000s fuel cell buses demonstrated in Europe .

• 2000s fuel cell cars developed and tested in Japan and US.

3. FUEL CELL :

A fuel cell converts the chemical energy of hydrogen and oxygen directly to produce electricity
and its byproducts water and heat. They are inherently clean and efficient and are uniquely able
to address the issues of environmental and energy security. They are safe, quiet and reliable.
Fuelled with pure hydrogen, fuel cells produce zero emissions of carbon dioxide, oxides of
nitrogen or any other pollutants. Even if fuelled with fossil fuels as a source of hydrogen, noxious
emissions are orders of magnitude below conventional combustion engines.

They offer significant improvements in energy efficiency as they remove the intermediate step of
combustion and mechanical devices such as turbines and pistons, thereby making fuel cells not
limited by the C arnot efficiency. Unlike conventional systems they operate at high efficiency at
part load. The fuel cell will compete with many other types of energy conversion devices,
including the gas turbine in your city's power plant, the gasoline engine in your car and the
battery in your laptop. C ombustion engines like the turbine and the gasoline engine burn fuels and
use the pressure created by the expansion of the gases to do mechanical work

Batteries converted chemical energy back into electrical energy when needed. Fuel cells should do
both tasks more efficiently.

A fuel cell provides a DC (direct current) voltage that can be used to power motors, lights or any
number of electrical appliances.

3.1. TYPES:
There are several different types of fuel cells, each using a different chemistry. Fuel cells are
usually classified by the type of electrolyte they use. Some types of fuel cells work well for use in
stationary power generation plants:

l Phosphoric acid
l Proton exchange membrane or solid polymer
l Molten carbonate
l Solid oxide
l Alkaline
l Direct methanol fuel cells
l Regenerative fuel cells
l Zinc air fuel cells
l Proton ceramic fuel cells

The proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC ) is one of the most promising technologies. This
is the type of fuel cell that will end up powering cars, buses and maybe even your house. The
PEMFC uses one of the simplest reactions of any fuel cell.

The four basic elements of a PEMFC :

l The anode , the negative post of the fuel cell, has several jobs. It conducts the electrons
that are freed from the hydrogen molecules so that they can be used in an external circuit.
It has channels etched into it that disperse the hydrogen gas equally over the surface of
the catalyst.
l The cathode , the positive post of the fuel cell, has channels etched into it that distribute
the oxygen to the surface of the catalyst. It also conducts the electrons back from the
external circuit to the catalyst, where they can recombine with the hydrogen ions and
oxygen to form water.
l The electrolyte is the proton exchange membrane . This specially treated material, which
looks something like ordinary kitchen plastic wrap, only conducts positively charged ions.
The membrane blocks electrons.
l The catalyst is usually made of platinum powder very thinly coated onto carbon paper or
cloth. The platinum-coated side of the catalyst faces the PEM.

3.2. WORKING:

Here the pressurized hydrogen gas (H 2 ) enters the fuel cell on the anode side. This gas is forced
through the catalyst by the pressure. When an H 2 molecule comes in contact with the platinum on
the catalyst, it splits into two H + ions and two electrons (e - ). The electrons are conducted
through the anode, where they make their way through the external circuit (doing useful work
such as turning a motor) and return to the cathode side

On the cathode side of the fuel cell, oxygen gas (O 2 ) is being forced through the catalyst, where
it forms two oxygen atoms. Each of these atoms has a strong negative charge. This negative
charge attracts the two H + ions through the membrane, where they combine with an oxygen
atom and two of the electrons from the external circuit to form a water molecule (H 2 O).

This reaction in a single fuel cell produces only about 0.7 volts. To get this voltage up to a
reasonable level, many separate fuel cells must be combined to form a fuel-cell stack .

The voltage from a single cell is about 0.7 volts, just about enough for a light bulb. When the cells
are stacked in a series, the operating voltage increases to 0.7 volts multiplied by the number of
cells stacked.

If the fuel cell is powered with pure hydrogen, it has the potential to be up to 80-percent efficient.
That is, it converts 80 percent of the energy content of the hydrogen into electrical energy. When
we add a reformer to convert methanol to hydrogen, the overall efficiency drops to about 30 to 40
percent.

We still need to convert the electrical energy into mechanical work. This is accomplished by the
electric motor and inverter. A reasonable number for the efficiency of the motor/inverter is about
80 percent. So we have 30- to 40-percent efficiency at converting methanol to electricity, and 80-
percent efficiency converting electricity to mechanical power. That gives an overall efficiency of

about 24 to 32 percent .

4. APPLICATIONS:

l Residential: Fuel cells are ideal for power generation. Since fuel cells operate silently, they
reduce noise pollution as well as air pollution and the waste heat from a fuel cell can be
used to provide hot water or space heating for a home. Many of the prototypes being
tested and demonstrated for residential use extract hydrogen from propane or natural gas.
l Portable Power : Fuel cells will change the telecommuting world, powering laptops and
palm pilots hours longer than batteries. Other applications for micro fuel cells include
pagers, video recorders, portable power tools, and low power remote devices such as
hearing aids, smoke detectors, burglar alarms, hotel locks and meter readers.
Landfill/Wastewater Treatment . Fuel cells currently operate at landfills and wastewater
treatment plants across the country, proving themselves as a valid technology for reducing
emissions and generating power from the methane gas they produce.
l No other energy generating technology holds the combination of benefits that fuel cells
offer.
l High Reliability/High Quality Power: Fuel cells offer clean, high quality power, crucial
to an economy that depends on increasingly sensitive computers, medical equipment and
machines. Properly configured fuel cells can achieve up to 99.9999% reliability
l High Efficiency: Because they make energy electrochemically, and do not burn fuel, fuel
cells are fundamentally more efficient than combustion systems. Fuel cell passenger
vehicles are expected to be up to three times more efficient than internal combustion
engines, which now operate at 10 to 16 percent efficiency.
l Power Generation: Fuel cells offer excellent environmental performance compared to
power generation technologies that rely on combustion. Based on measured data, a fuel
cell power plant may create less than one ounce of pollution per 1,000 kilowatt-hours of
electricity produced - compared to the 25 pounds of pollutants for conventional combustion
generating systems.
l Motor Vehicles – Environmental Benefits: Fuel cell vehicles are the least polluting of
all vehicles that consume fuel directly.
l Fuel cell vehicles operating on hydrogen stored on-board the vehicles produce zero
pollution in the conventional sense. Neither conventional pollutants nor green house gases
are emitted. The only byproducts are water and heat.
l Systems that rely on a reformer on board to convert a liquid fuel to hydrogen produce
small amounts of emissions, but would still reduce smog-forming pollution by up to 90
percent compared to traditional combustion engines, depending on the choice of fuel.

5. DRAWBACKS:

The main disadvantage with these fuel cells is that the hydrogen is currently impractical as an
alternative to fossil-based liquid fuels. It is inefficient to produce, has low energy density
(hydrogen gas tanks would need to be 2-3 times as large as conventional gasoline tanks), and is
expensive to transport and convert back to electricity. Also hydrogen fuel cells are still
prohibitively expensive as a prime mover of transportation. However, theoretically it is more
efficient to burn fossil fuels to produce hydrogen than burning oil directly in car engines (due to
efficiencies of scale). Unfortunately, this does not take into consideration the significant energy
cost of having to build hundreds of millions of new hydrogen powered vehicles plus hydrogen fuel
distribution infrastructure. Research on the feasibility of hydrogen as a fuel is still underway, and
the outcome is, at best, uncertain.

6. CONCLUSION:

In contrast to chemical fuel cells, the biological fuel cells have mild reaction conditions (ambient
temperature, normal pressure, and neutral pH) and platinum is not needed. Instead of platinum,
the catalyst is either a microorganism or an enzyme. The biological fuel cell converts the chemical
energy of carbohydrates, such as sugars and alcohols, directly to electric energy.

So, although the technology for fuel cell power will be suitable within the next few years, its
adoption by our country automobiles and industries will be delayed considerably until existing
diesel vehicles have reached the end of their useful life. By this time the technology of fuel cells
will be well proven within other transport markets and its transfer to Indian markets will be
facilitated . As more innovative technologies develop; the future of fuel cells may be closer to
reality than once thought.

7. REFERENCES(BIBLIOGRAPHY):

www.howstuffworks.com/fuel-cell.htm

www.edugreen.teri.res.in/explore/renew/fuelcell.htm

Fuel C ell Technology Handbook by Gregor Hoogers

C reated by Department of C SE