Fuel Cell Engines


Book Description

Fuel Cell Engines is an introduction to the fundamental principles of electrochemistry, thermodynamics, kinetics, material science and transport applied specifically to fuel cells. It covers scientific fundamentals and provides a basic understanding that enables proper technical decision-making.




Fuel Cells, Engines and Hydrogen


Book Description

Fuel cell technology is the most exciting and legitimate alternative source of power currently available to us as world resources of non-renewable fuel continue to be depleted. No other power generating technology holds the same benefits that fuel cells offer, including high reliability and efficiency, negligible environmental impact, and security of supply. Fuel cells run on hydrogen – the simplest and most plentiful gas in the universe - although they can also run on carbon monoxide, methane, or even coal. Their applications are diverse, from powering automobiles, buildings and portable electronics, to converting methane gas from wastewater plants and landfills into electricity. Fuel Cells, Engines and Hydrogen is a controversial text that challenges the accepted industry parameters for measuring fuel cell performance and efficiency. Based on his inter-disciplinary experience in the fields of power, nuclear power, and desalination, the author contends that the development potential of the fuel cell is related to the quantity fuel chemical exergy, which, like electrical potential, is a quantitative measure of work done. The fuel cell community currently characterises these devices in terms of the enthalpy of combustion (calorific value) – however the author argues a correct, qualitatively different and fourfold larger characterisation is via the fuel chemical exergy, in units of work, and not energy. He asserts that the distortion introduced by this accepted perspective needs to be corrected before relatively efficient fuel cells, integrated with comparatively low performing gas turbines, reach the market. Fuel Cells, Engines and Hydrogen features a foreword by Dr Gerry Agnew, Executive VP Engineering of Rolls Royce Fuel Cells Systems Ltd. It is essential reading for all engineers involved with fuel cells and/ or the manufacture of hydrogen from natural gas, as well as academics in related disciplines such as thermodynamics, physical chemistry, materials, physics, mechanical and chemical engineering.




Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Production


Book Description

The expected end of the “oil age” will lead to increasing focus and reliance on alternative energy conversion devices, among which fuel cells have the potential to play an important role. Not only can phosphoric acid and solid oxide fuel cells already efficiently convert today’s fossil fuels, including methane, into electricity, but other types of fuel cells, such as polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, have the potential to become the cornerstones of a possible future hydrogen economy. This handbook offers concise yet comprehensive coverage of the current state of fuel cell research and identifies key areas for future investigation. Internationally renowned specialists provide authoritative introductions to a wide variety of fuel cell types and hydrogen production technologies, and discuss materials and components for these systems. Sustainability and marketing considerations are also covered, including comparisons of fuel cells with alternative technologies.




Fuel Cell Systems


Book Description

In light of recent alarming environmental trends combined with increasing commercial viability of fuel cells, the time is propitious for a book focusing on the systematic aspects of cell plant technology. This multidisciplinary text covers the main types of fuel cells, R&D issues, plant design and construction, and economic factors to provide industrial and academic researchers working in electrical systems design, electrochemistry, and engineering with a unique and comprehensive resource.




Hydrogen and Fuel Cells


Book Description

Authored by 40 of the most prominent and renowned international scientists from academia, industry, institutions and government, this handbook explores mature, evolving technologies for a clean, economically viable alternative to non-renewable energy. In so doing, it includes how hydrogen can be safely produced, stored, transported and utilized, while also covering such broader topics as the environmental impact, education and regulatory developments.




Hydrogen and Fuel Cell


Book Description

This book introduces readers to hydrogen as an essential energy carrier for use with renewable sources of primary energy. It provides an overview of the state of the art, while also highlighting the developmental and market potential of hydrogen in the context of energy technologies; mobile, stationary and portable applications; uninterruptible power supplies and in the chemical industry. Written by experienced practitioners, the book addresses the needs of engineers, chemists and business managers, as well as graduate students and researchers.




The Hype About Hydrogen


Book Description

Lately it has become a matter of conventional wisdom that hydrogen will solve many of our energy and environmental problems. Nearly everyone -- environmentalists, mainstream media commentators, industry analysts, General Motors, and even President Bush -- seems to expect emission-free hydrogen fuel cells to ride to the rescue in a matter of years, or at most a decade or two. Not so fast, says Joseph Romm. In The Hype about Hydrogen, he explains why hydrogen isn't the quick technological fix it's cracked up to be, and why cheering for fuel cells to sweep the market is not a viable strategy for combating climate change. Buildings and factories powered by fuel cells may indeed become common after 2010, Joseph Romm argues, but when it comes to transportation, the biggest source of greenhouse-gas emissions, hydrogen is unlikely to have a significant impact before 2050. The Hype about Hydrogen offers a hype-free explanation of hydrogen and fuel cell technologies, takes a hard look at the practical difficulties of transitioning to a hydrogen economy, and reveals why, given increasingly strong evidence of the gravity of climate change, neither government policy nor business investment should be based on the belief that hydrogen cars will have meaningful commercial success in the near or medium term. Romm, who helped run the federal government's program on hydrogen and fuel cells during the Clinton administration, provides a provocative primer on the politics, business, and technology of hydrogen and climate protection.




Materials for Sustainable Energy


Book Description

The search for cleaner, cheaper, smaller and more efficient energy technologies has to a large extent been motivated by the development of new materials. The aim of this collection of articles is therefore to focus on what materials-based solutions can offer and show how the rationale design and improvement of their physical and chemical properties can lead to energy-production alternatives that have the potential to compete with existing technologies. In terms of alternative means to generate electricity that utilize renewable energy sources, the most dramatic breakthroughs for both mobile (i.e., transportation) and stationary applications are taking place in the fields of solar and fuel cells. And from an energy-storage perspective, exciting developments can be seen emerging from the fields of rechargeable batteries and hydrogen storage.




Advances in Hydrogen Production, Storage and Distribution


Book Description

Advances in Hydrogen Production, Storage and Distribution reviews recent developments in this key component of the emerging "hydrogen economy," an energy infrastructure based on hydrogen. Since hydrogen can be produced without using fossil fuels, a move to such an economy has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and improve energy security. However, such a move also requires the advanced production, storage and usage techniques discussed in this book. Part one introduces the fundamentals of hydrogen production, storage, and distribution, including an overview of the development of the necessary infrastructure, an analysis of the potential environmental benefits, and a review of some important hydrogen production technologies in conventional, bio-based, and nuclear power plants. Part two focuses on hydrogen production from renewable resources, and includes chapters outlining the production of hydrogen through water electrolysis, photocatalysis, and bioengineered algae. Finally, part three covers hydrogen production using inorganic membrane reactors, the storage of hydrogen, fuel cell technology, and the potential of hydrogen as a fuel for transportation. Advances in Hydrogen Production, Storage and Distribution provides a detailed overview of the components and challenges of a hydrogen economy. This book is an invaluable resource for research and development professionals in the energy industry, as well as academics with an interest in this important subject. - Reviews developments and research in this dynamic area - Discusses the challenges of creating an infrastructure to store and distribute hydrogen - Reviews the production of hydrogen using electrolysis and photo-catalytic methods




Hydrogen Energy and Fuel Cells


Book Description