Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Efficiency

Bio ethanol based fuel cells may improve the well to wheel balance of this biofuel because of the increased conversion rate of the fuel cell compared to the internal combustion engine.

Direct methanol fuel cell efficiency.

Theoretically the efficiency of an ethanol fuel cell should be 96 percent but in practice at the highest power density it is only 30 percent due to a variety of reasons. A schematic representation of a direct methanol fuel cell dmfc which is a type of pem fuel cell is shown in figure 1. A direct methanol fuel cell dmfc is an electrochemical energy conversion device that converts the chemical energy of liquid methanol into electrical energy directly. Methanol fuel cells how cost efficient are they.

Direct methanol fuel cells dmfc have been widely researched for applications in portable electronics due to their use of liquid fuel for easy storage and transportation compared to gaseous hydrogen. Direct methanol fuel cell. 1 2008 11 18 a m. Whilst the thermodynamic theoretical energy conversion efficiency of a dmfc is 97.

So there is much room. The direct methanol fuel cell dmfc was developed to tackle the fuel storage problem of hydrogen and to eliminate the need of a reformer to convert methanol to hydrogen. The currently achievable energy conversion efficiency for operational cells attains 30 40. It has some commercial advantages such low price compact construction quick refueling.

Direct methanol fuel cells or dmfcs are a subcategory of proton exchange fuel cells in which methanol is used as the fuel. Direct methanol fuel cell research at los alamos has focused on developing materials and optimizing performance of direct methan ol fuel cells for portable power devices e g commercial electronics battery replacement for the military and transportation e g on board auxiliary power un its. Due to its unique advantages such as a higher energy density facile liquid fuel storage capability and simpler system structure the direct methanol fuel cell has been identified as one of the most promising power sources for the portable and clean mobile applications in the near future. However dmfc s performance is strongly affected by methanol crossover that significantly degrades the energy efficiency at low output power and is characterized by an increasing efficiency at increasing output power.

Their main advantage is the ease of transport of methanol an energy dense yet reasonably stable liquid at all environmental conditions. The direct methanol fuel cell dmfc represent an interesting solution to produce electricity.