People's Democratic Republic of Algeria

Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research

Mentourri Brothers University - Constantine 1

 Faculty of Science and Technology

 Electrtechnical department
 Sector: electromechanical

Fuel Cells

Presented by :

Bouneggar anouar

Triki aymen

Année universitaire : 2022 / 2023

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Catalog
INTRODUCTION ...................................................................3
Fuel Cells .................................................................................3
What is fuel cell ..................................................................3
Why Study Fuel Cells .........................................................3
The Base Structure of Fuel Cells.........................................4
How Fuel Cells Work .........................................................5
The Advantages and Disadvantages of Fuel Cells ..............5
Higher Efficiency ...........................................................5
Low Chemical, Acoustic, and Thermal Emissions .........5
Modularity and Siting Flexibility ...................................6
Low Maintenance ...........................................................6
Fuel Flexibility ...............................................................6
Research and Development Goals.......................................7
CONCLUSIONS .....................................................................8

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INTRODUCTION
Fuel cells are seen by many people as a key solutions for the 21st century, enabling clean
efficient production of power and heat from a range of primary energy sources. Fuel cells are
electrochemical devices that use hydrogen (H2), or H2-rich fuels, together with oxygen from
air, to produce electricity and heat.
However there are many variants of this basic process, depending on the Fuel Cell type and
the fuel used.
This technology is very interesting for a many different applications including micro power
generators, auxiliary power generators, stationary power generators, distributed power
generators and portable power generators for transportation, military projects and the
automotive market.
These are all applications that will be used in a large number of industries and environments
on a worldwide scale [1].

Fuel Cells
Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office

What is fuel cell

A fuel cell uses the chemical energy of hydrogen or other fuels to cleanly and efficiently
produce electricity. If hydrogen is the fuel, the only products are electricity, water, and heat.
Fuel cells are unique in terms of the variety of their potential applications; they can use a wide
range of fuels and feed stocks and can provide power for systems as large as a utility power
station and as small as a laptop computer.

Why Study Fuel Cells

Fuel cells can be used in a wide range of applications, providing power for applications across
multiple sectors, including transportation, industrial/commercial/residential buildings, and
long-term energy storage for the grid in reversible systems.

Fuel cells have several benefits over conventional combustion-based technologies currently
used in many power plants and vehicles. Fuel cells can operate at higher efficiencies than
combustion engines and can convert the chemical energy in the fuel directly to electrical
energy with efficiencies capable of exceeding 60%. Fuel cells have lower or zero emissions
compared to combustion engines. Hydrogen fuel cells emit only water, addressing critical
climate challenges as there are no carbon dioxide emissions. There also are no air pollutants
that create smog and cause health problems at the point of operation. Fuel cells are quiet
during operation as they have few moving parts.

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The Base Structure of Fuel Cells

he chemical energy of a fuel and an oxidant directly into electrical energy. The basic physical
structure of a single cell consists of an electrolyte layer in contact with a porous anode and
cathode on either side.
In a typical fuel cell, gaseous fuels are fed continuously to the anode (negative electrode) and
an oxidant (i.e., oxygen from air) is fed continuously to the cathode (positive electrode)
compartment; the electrochemical reactions take place at the electrodes to produce an electric
current (Fig. 1).
In the case of a fuel cell with an acid electrolyte the electrochemical reactions are:
anodize reaction: H2 → 2H+ + 2e
cathodic reaction: 1/2O2 + 2H+ + 2e- → H2O
overall reaction: H2 + 1/2O2 → H2O + heat (exothermic reaction, H=-286 kJ mol-1)
A fuel cell, although having components and characteristics similar to those of a typical
battery, differs in several respects. The battery is an energy storage device and the available
energy is determined by the chemical reactant stored within the battery itself. The battery will
cease to produce electrical energy when the chemical reactants are consumed (i.e., battery
discharged). In a secondary battery (fuel cell), the reactants are continuously supplied from an
external source.
The fuel cell, on the other hand, is an energy conversion device that theoretically has the
capability of producing electrical energy for as long as the fuel and oxidant are supplied
to the electrodes.
Degradation, primarily corrosion, or malfunction of components are the limits to the practical
operating life of fuel cells

Fig. (1). Fuel Cells Concept.

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How Fuel Cells Work

Fuel cells work like batteries, but they do not run down or need recharging. They produce
electricity and heat as long as fuel is supplied. A fuel cell consists of two electrodes—a
negative electrode (or anode) and a positive electrode (or cathode)—sandwiched around an
electrolyte. A fuel, such as hydrogen, is fed to the anode, and air is fed to the cathode. In a
hydrogen fuel cell, a catalyst at the anode separates hydrogen molecules into protons and
electrons, which take different paths to the cathode. The electrons go through an external
circuit, creating a flow of electricity. The protons migrate through the electrolyte to the
cathode, where they unite with oxygen and the electrons to produce water and heat. Learn
more about:

 Parts of a fuel cell

 Fuel cell systems
 Types of fuel cells.

View the Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office's fuel cell animation to see how a fuel
cell operates.

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Fuel Cells

If compared with conventional fossil fuel propelled electric generators, the use of fuel cells
brings about many advantages [1]:
Higher volumetric and gravimetric efficiency
Low chemical, acoustic, and thermal emissions
Modularity and siting flexibility
Low maintenance
Fuel flexibility (depending on type of fuel cell)
No production of pollutants

Higher Efficiency
The higher efficiency of fuel cells is a consequence of the direct (chemical) production of
electric energy from the fuel used. As a consequence the technology is not affected by the
limitations derived from the Carnot thermiccycle which burdens all the combustion based
electric generation systems.

Low Chemical, Acoustic, and Thermal Emissions

Due to higher efficiencies and lower fuel oxidation temperatures, fuel cells emit less carbon
dioxide and nitrogen oxides for kilowatt of power generated. Another characteristic is that
since fuel cells have no moving parts (except for the ancillary pumps, blowers, and
transformers), noise and vibration are negligible.

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Modularity and Siting Flexibility

A single fuel cell will produce less than one volt of electrical potential. To produce higher
voltages, fuel cells are stacked on top of each other and connected in series. Cell
stacks consist of repeating fuel cell units, each comprised of an anode, cathode, electrolyte
and a bipolar separator plate.
The number of cells in a stack depends on the desired power output and individual cell
performance. The stacks have sizes which range from a few hundreds of W to several hundred
of kW (up to some MW).

Low Maintenance
Due to the high modularity of generator systems it is relatively easy, for same type of fuelcells,
to localize and substitute a damaged or malfunctioning cell contained inside a stack.
This characteristic obviously leads to lower maintenance costs.

Fuel Flexibility
Hydrogen is the most used fuel (especially for the low temperature technologies of fuel cells
which requires pure
gasses to operate); however fuel flexibility has been demonstrated in many technologies using
natural gas, propane, landfill gas, anaerobic dig ester gas, military logistic fuels, and coal gas.
This flexibility depends for the most on the operative temperature range of the type of fuel
cells used (in principle, the higher the temperature the less pure the gas that the fuel cell can
use).
Even if they are able to provide many important advantages, all the fuel cells technologies are
still in a development phase and are burdened by many problems which makes their use less
convenient than the other technologies which are already in use.
The problems are the following:
Fuel cells costs for stationary electric generation (€/Wh) are still too high and unsuitable for
the substitution of the technologies based on fossil fuels.
The life cycle and the degradation time of many technologies of fuel cells (especially the
high temperature technologies which are the best for electric power generation) is still not
totally known.
Hydrogen, which is one the main fuel for fuel cell technologies, is expensive and it does
not still exist a network for his production and distribution.
The use of low temperature fuel cells in the car market is limited by the fact that it is
difficult to confine a suitable quantity of hydrogen in small fuel containers and by the
fact that hydrogen is a flammable and potentially explosive gas (especially if compressed in
small containers).

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These are the reasons which prevents fuel cells to substitute many others technologies with
lower efficiency and a much higher environmental impact.
The result is that an high effort in research and development is still needed to render this
technology approachable, especially regarding the reduction of energy production costs
[5-7] the use of new materials [8,9] and the improvement of conductivity mechanism in the
electrolytes [10], also because the development of new materials remain in progress [11].

Research and Development Goals

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is working closely with its national laboratories,
universities, and industry partners to overcome critical technical barriers to fuel cell
development. Cost, performance, and durability are still key challenges in the fuel cell
industry. View related links that provide details about DOE-funded fuel cell activities.

 Cost—Research, development, and demonstration (RD&D) focuses on the

development of low-cost fuel cell stack and balance of plant (BOP) components and
advanced high-volume manufacturing approaches to reduce overall system cost.
Platinum represents one of the largest cost components of a direct hydrogen fueled
polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell, so there is emphasis on approaches that will
increase activity and utilization and reduce the content of current platinum group
metal (PGM) and PGM-alloy catalysts, as well as PGM-free catalyst approaches for
long-term applications.

 Performance—To improve fuel cell efficiency and performance, RD&D focuses on

innovative materials and integration strategies. Efforts include developing ion-
exchange membrane electrolytes with enhanced efficiency and durability at reduced
cost; improving membrane electrode assemblies (MEAs) with high power density
through integration of state-of-the-art MEA components; modeling to understand
system design and operating conditions; and developing stacks with high efficiency at
rated power and high-performing BOP components, such as air management
components with low parasitic losses.

 Durability—Fuel cell applications generally require adequate performance to be

maintained over long periods of time. DOE has set ultimate targets for fuel cell system
lifetime under realistic operating conditions at 8,000 hours for light-duty vehicles,
30,000 hours for heavy-duty trucks, and 80,000 hours for distributed power systems.
In the most demanding applications, system reliability and robustness is required
under dynamic and harsh operating conditions. Realistic operating conditions include
starting and stopping, freezing and thawing, impurities in the fuel and air, and
humidity and dynamic load cycles that result in stresses on the chemical and
mechanical stability of the fuel cell system materials and components. RD&D focuses
on identifying and understanding the fuel cell degradation mechanisms and developing
materials and strategies to mitigate their effects.

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CONCLUSIONS
Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert the chemical energy of a fuel, typically hydrogen,
into electricity and heat with high efficiency. Some key conclusions about fuel cells include:

1. High Efficiency: Fuel cells can be highly efficient, often exceeding traditional combustion-based
power generation methods, as they have lower heat and emission losses.

2. Environmentally Friendly: Hydrogen fuel cells produce electricity with only water as a byproduct,
making them environmentally friendly and a potential solution for reducing greenhouse gas
emissions.

3. Diverse Applications: Fuel cells have various applications, from powering vehicles (fuel cell vehicles
or FCVs) to providing backup power for homes and commercial buildings.

4. Challenges Exist: Fuel cells face challenges, including hydrogen production and storage issues, as
well as the need for a reliable hydrogen infrastructure.

5. Ongoing Research: Research in fuel cell technology continues to address these challenges, aiming
to make fuel cells more practical and cost-effective for widespread use.

6. Fuel Cell Types: Various types of fuel cells exist, such as proton exchange membrane (PEM), solid
oxide, and molten carbonate fuel cells, each with its advantages and disadvantages.

7. Market Growth: The adoption of fuel cells is growing, with increasing interest in clean energy
solutions and a shift toward hydrogen as a sustainable energy carrier.

These conclusions reflect the potential and ongoing development of fuel cell technology as a
promising clean energy solution.