8/2/2019 Fuel Cells - The Basics

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US Fuel Cell Council

Fuel Cells: The Basics

In 1839, Sir William Robert Grove, a Welshphysician, discovered that hydrogen and oxy-gen could be combined to produce water and

an electric current. In the 1950s, scientists wouldutilize this discovery to develop fuel cells to powerNASAs space exploration vehicles. Today, fuel celltechnology is being brought back to earth to powereverything from cars and buses, to homes andbusinesses, and even cellular phones and laptopcomputers.

How the Fuel Cell Works

Fuel cells use a chemical reaction, rather thancombustion (burning a fuel), to produceelectricity in a process that is the reverse ofelectrolysis. In electrolysis, anelectric current applied to waterproduces hydrogen andoxygen. By reversing thisprocess, hydrogen

and oxygen arecombined in thefuel cell to produceelectricity andwater.

Fuel cells are really a family of technologies; there areseveral major types of fuel cells, differentiated bythe type of electrolyte they use. To illustrate how afuel cell works, we will use the PEM fuel cell as anexample.

Hydrogen (fuel) is fed into the anode of the fuel cell.Oxygen (from air) is fed into the cathode side.Encouraged by a catalyst, electrons are stripped fromthe hydrogen atom. Freed of the electrons, the protonspass through the electrolyte, while the electrons areforced to take a different path to the cathode. As theelectrons travel their separate path, they create anelectric current that can be utilized. At the cathode,another catalyst rejoins the hydrogen atom, whichthen combines with oxygen to create a molecule of

water.

Hydrogen for Fuel Cells

Hydrogen can be generated using solar and wipowered electrolysis of water, or can be extractfrom a variety of hydro-carbon fuels. A fuel cell systethat includes a fuel reformer can extract hydrogfrom a variety of fuels, including methanol, ethannatural gas, propane, gasoline, and even landfill ga

Benefits of Fuel Cells

Fuel cells are better than traditional power technologbecause they are:

Efficient On average, an internal combustiengine conveabout 15 perceof the energy gasoline to turncars wheels. Fucell vehicles a

expected to achieefficiencies of 40 to percent. Fuel cell powplants producing electricand thermal energy a

expected to achieve efficiencies of percent or more as combined heat apower plants.

Clean The only emission from ttailpipe of a fuel cell vehicle operating on hydrogen

water vapor. Fuel cell vehicles that use an on-boafuel reformer will emit two-thirds less pollution tha gasoline combustion engine.

Reliable Because they are modular, fuel cell systehave demonstrated 99.9999% reliability, which is vedesirable by companies concerned about financlosses due to power outages.

For more information, visit our web site www.usfcc.com.

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