Fuel Cells - Green Power - Martin's Marine Engineering Page

Regenerative Fuel CellA regenerative fuel cell, currently being developed for utility applications, uses hydrogen andoxygen or air to produce electricity, water, and waste heat as a conventional fuel cell does.However, the regenerative fuel cell also performs the reverse of the fuel cell reaction, usingelectricity and water to form hydrogen and oxygen. In the reverse mode of the regenerativefuel cell, known as electrolysis, electricity is applied to the electrodes of the cell to force thedissociation of water into its components.The “closed” system of a regenerative fuel cell could have a significant advantage because itcould enable the operation of a fuel cell power system without requiring a new hydrogeninfrastructure. There are two concerns to be addressed in the development of regenerativefuel cells. The first is the extra cost that would be incurred in making the fuel cell reversible.Renewable regenerative fuel cell utilizing the energy source of the sunto produce power (Courtesy: Aerovironment)The second drawback to theoperation of the regenerativefuel cell is the use of gridelectricity to produce thehydrogen. In the United States,most electricity comes fromburning fossil fuels. The fossilfuel ➔ electricity ➔ hydrogenenergy route generates significantlymore greenhouse gasesthan simply burning gasoline inan internal combustion engine.Although the concept of aregenerative fuel cell is attractive,until renewable electricity,e.g. electricity from solar orwind sources, is readilyavailable, this technologywill not reduce greenhousegas emissions.In the near term, fuelavailability could bean important reasonfor operating fuel cellvehicles on gasoline.Today, oil refiners inthe U.S. are spendingover $10 billionto comply withreformulated gasolineregulations to helplower tailpipeemissions. Fuel cellvehicles operating onalternative fuelswill require new andexpensive fuelinginfrastructures.However,alternative fuels willprovide superiorenvironmentalperformance. In thelong term, incrementalinvestments in a newdomestic fuelinfrastructure will benecessary for the21 st century.RFG :ReformulatedGasolineM 100 :MethanolE 100 :EthanolH 2 :HydrogenCNG :CompressedNatural GasUnmanned solar plane powered by a renewable regenerativefuel cell (Courtesy: Aerovironment)This document, and more, is available for download at Martin's Marine Engineering Page - www.dieselduck.net