Fuel Cell Systems Explained

Since publication of the first edition of Fuel Cell Systems Explained, three compelling drivers have supported the continuing development of fuel cell technology. These are: the need to maintain energy security in an energy-hungry world, the desire to move towards zero-emission vehicles and power plants, and the mitigation of climate change by lowering of CO2 emissions. New fuel cell materials, enhanced stack performance and increased lifetimes are leading to the emergence of the first truly commercial systems in applications that range from fork-lift trucks to power sources for mobile phone towers. Leading vehicle manufacturers have embraced the use of electric drive-trains and now see hydrogen fuel cells complementing advanced battery technology in zero-emission vehicles. After many decades of laboratory development, a global but fragile fuel cell industry is bringing the first commercial products to market.  This thoroughly revised edition includes several new sections devoted to, for example, fuel cell characterisation, improved materials for low-temperature hydrogen and liquid-fuelled systems, and real-world technology implementation.   Assuming no prior knowledge of fuel cell technology, the third edition comprehensively brings together all of the key topics encompassed in this diverse field. Practitioners, researchers and students in electrical, power, chemical and automotive engineering will continue to benefit from this essential guide to the principles, design and implementation of fuel cell systems.

Table of Contents:
Brief Biographies xiii Preface xv Acknowledgments xvii Acronyms and Initialisms xix Symbols and Units xxv 1 Introducing Fuel Cells 1 1.1 Historical Perspective 1 1.2 Fuel-Cell Basics 7 1.3 Electrode Reaction Rates 9 1.4 Stack Design 11 1.5 Gas Supply and Cooling 14 1.6 Principal Technologies 17 1.7 Mechanically Rechargeable Batteries and Other Fuel Cells 19 1.7.1 Metal–Air Cells 20 1.7.2 Redox Flow Cells 20 1.7.3 Biological Fuel Cells 23 1.8 Balance-of-Plant Components 23 1.9 Fuel-Cell Systems: Key Parameters 24 1.10 Advantages and Applications 25 Further Reading 26 2 Efficiency and Open-Circuit Voltage 27 2.1 Open-Circuit Voltage: Hydrogen Fuel Cell 27 2.2 Open-Circuit Voltage: Other Fuel Cells and Batteries 31 2.3 Efficiency and Its Limits 32 2.4 Efficiency and Voltage 35 2.5 Influence of Pressure and Gas Concentration 36 2.5.1 Nernst Equation 36 2.5.2 Hydrogen Partial Pressure 38 2.5.3 Fuel and Oxidant Utilization 39 2.5.4 System Pressure 39 2.6 Summary 40 Further Reading 41 3 Operational Fuel-Cell Voltages 43 3.1 Fundamental Voltage: Current Behaviour 43 3.2 Terminology 44 3.3 Fuel-Cell Irreversibilities 46 3.4 ActivationLosses 46 3.4.1 The Tafel Equation 46 3.4.2 The Constants in the Tafel Equation 48 3.4.3 Reducing the Activation Overpotential 51 3.5 InternalCurrents and Fuel Crossover 52 3.6 Ohmic Losses 54 3.7 Mass-Transport Losses 55 3.8 Combining the Irreversibilities 57 3.9 The Electrical Double-Layer 58 3.10 Techniques for Distinguishing Irreversibilities 60 3.10.1 Cyclic Voltammetry 60 3.10.2 AC Impedance Spectroscopy 61 3.10.3 Current Interruption 65 Further Reading 68 4 Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells 69 4.1 Overview 69 4.2 Polymer Electrolyte: Principles of Operation 72 4.2.1 Perfluorinated Sulfonic Acid Membrane 72 4.2.2 Modified Perfluorinated Sulfonic Acid Membranes 76 4.2.3 Alternative Sulfonated and Non-Sulfonated Membranes 77 4.2.4 Acid–Base Complexes and Ionic Liquids 79 4.2.5 High-Temperature Proton Conductors 80 4.3 Electrodes and Electrode Structure 81 4.3.1 Catalyst Layers: Platinum-Based Catalysts 82 4.3.2 Catalyst Layers: Alternative Catalysts for Oxygen Reduction 85 4.3.2.1 Macrocyclics 86 4.3.2.2 Chalcogenides 87 4.3.2.3 Conductive Polymers 87 4.3.2.4 Nitrides 87 4.3.2.5 Functionalized Carbons 87 4.3.2.6 Heteropolyacids 88 4.3.3 Catalyst Layer: Negative Electrode 88 4.3.4 Catalyst Durability 88 4.3.5 Gas-Diffusion Layer 89 4.4 Water Management 92 4.4.1 Hydration and Water Movement 92 4.4.2 Air Flow and Water Evaporation 94 4.4.3 Air Humidity 96 4.4.4 Self-Humidified Cells 98 4.4.5 External Humidification: Principles 100 4.4.6 External Humidification: Methods 102 4.5 Cooling and Air Supply 104 4.5.1 Cooling with Cathode Air Supply 104 4.5.2 Separate Reactant and Cooling Air 104 4.5.3 Water Cooling 105 4.6 Stack Construction Methods 107 4.6.1 Introduction 107 4.6.2 Carbon Bipolar Plates 107 4.6.3 Metal Bipolar Plates 109 4.6.4 Flow-Field Patterns 110 4.6.5 Other Topologies 112 4.6.6 Mixed Reactant Cells 114 4.7 Operating Pressure 115 4.7.1 Technical Issues 115 4.7.2 Benefits of High Operating Pressures 117 4.7.2.1 Current 117 4.7.3 Other Factors 120 4.8 Fuel Types 120 4.8.1 Reformed Hydrocarbons 120 4.8.2 Alcohols and Other Liquid Fuels 121 4.9 Practical and Commercial Systems 122 4.9.1 Small-Scale Systems 122 4.9.2 Medium-Scale for Stationary Applications 123 4.9.3 Transport System Applications 125 4.10 System Design, Stack Lifetime and Related Issues 129 4.10.1 Membrane Degradation 129 4.10.2 Catalyst Degradation 129 4.10.3 System Control 129 4.11 Unitized Regenerative Fuel Cells 130 Further Reading 132 5 Alkaline Fuel Cells 135 5.1 Principles of Operation 135 5.2 System Designs 137 5.2.1 Circulating Electrolyte Solution 137 5.2.2 Static Electrolyte Solution 140 5.2.3 Dissolved Fuel 142 5.2.4 Anion-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells 144 5.3 Electrodes 147 5.3.1 Sintered Nickel Powder 147 5.3.2 Raney Metals 147 5.3.3 Rolled Carbon 148 5.3.4 Catalysts 150 5.4 Stack Designs 151 5.4.1 Monopolar and Bipolar 151 5.4.2 Other Stack Designs 152 5.5 Operating Pressure and Temperature 152 5.6 Opportunities and Challenges 155 Further Reading 156 6 Direct Liquid Fuel Cells 157 6.1 Direct Methanol Fuel Cells 157 6.1.1 Principles of Operation 160 6.1.2 Electrode Reactions with a Proton-Exchange Membrane Electrolyte 160 6.1.3 Electrode Reactions with an Alkaline Electrolyte 162 6.1.4 Anode Catalysts 162 6.1.5 Cathode Catalysts 163 6.1.6 System Designs 164 6.1.7 Fuel Crossover 165 6.1.8 Mitigating Fuel Crossover: Standard Techniques 166 6.1.9 Mitigating Fuel Crossover: Prospective Techniques 167 6.1.10 Methanol Production 168 6.1.11 Methanol Safety and Storage 168 6.2 Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells 169 6.2.1 Principles of Operation 170 6.2.2 Ethanol Oxidation, Catalyst and Reaction Mechanism 170 6.2.3 Low-Temperature Operation: Performance and Challenges 172 6.2.4 High-Temperature Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells 173 6.3 Direct Propanol Fuel Cells 173 6.4 Direct Ethylene Glycol Fuel Cells 174 6.4.1 Principles of Operation 174 6.4.2 Ethylene Glycol: Anodic Oxidation 175 6.4.3 Cell Performance 176 6.5 Formic Acid Fuel Cells 176 6.5.1 Formic Acid: Anodic Oxidation 177 6.5.2 Cell Performance 177 6.6 Borohydride Fuel Cells 178 6.6.1 Anode Catalysts 180 6.6.2 Challenges 180 6.7 Application of Direct Liquid Fuel Cells 182 Further Reading 184 7 Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cells 187 7.1 High- Temperature Fuel-Cell Systems 187 7.2 System Design 188 7.2.1 Fuel Processing 188 7.2.2 Fuel Utilization 189 7.2.3 Heat-Exchangers 192 7.2.3.1 Designs 193 7.2.3.2 Exergy Analysis 193 7.2.3.3 Pinch Analysis 194 7.3 Principles of Operation 196 7.3.1 Electrolyte 196 7.3.2 Electrodes and Catalysts 198 7.3.3 Stack Construction 199 7.3.4 Stack Cooling and Manifolding 200 7.4 Performance 201 7.4.1 Operating Pressure 202 7.4.2 Operating Temperature 202 7.4.3 Effects of Fuel and Oxidant Composition 203 7.4.4 Effects of Carbon Monoxide and Sulfur 204 7.5 Technological Developments 204 Further Reading 206 8 Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells 207 8.1 Principles of Operation 207 8.2 Cell Components 210 8.2.1 Electrolyte 211 8.2.2 Anode 213 8.2.3 Cathode 214 8.2.4 Non-Porous Components 215 8.3 Stack Configuration and Sealing 215 8.3.1 Manifolding 216 8.3.2 Internal and External Reforming 218 8.4 Performance 220 8.4.1 Influence of Pressure 220 8.4.2 Influence of Temperature 222 8.5 Practical Systems 223 8.5.1 Fuel Cell Energy (USA) 223 8.5.2 Fuel Cell Energy Solutions (Europe) 225 8.5.3 Facilities in Japan 228 8.5.4 Facilities in South Korea 228 8.6 Future Research and Development 229 8.7 Hydrogen Production and Carbon Dioxide Separation 230 8.8 Direct Carbon Fuel Cell 231 Further Reading 234 9 Solid Oxide Fuel Cells 235 9.1 Principles of Operation 235 9.1.1 High-Temperature (HT) Cells 235 9.1.2 Low-Temperature (IT) Cells 237 9.2 Components 238 9.2.1 Zirconia Electrolyte for HT-Cells 238 9.2.2 Electrolytes for IT-Cells 240 9.2.2.1 Ceria 240 9.2.2.2 Perovskites 241 9.2.2.3 Other Materials 243 9.2.3 Anodes 243 9.2.3.1 Nickel-YSZ 243 9.2.3.2 Cathode 245 9.2.3.3 Mixed Ionic–Electronic Conductor Anode 246 9.2.4 Cathode 247 9.2.5 Interconnect Material 247 9.2.6 Sealing Materials 248 9.3 Practical Design and Stacking Arrangements 249 9.3.1 Tubular Design 249 9.3.2 Planar Design 251 9.4 Performance 253 9.5 Developmental and Commercial Systems 254 9.5.1 Tubular SOFCs 255 9.5.2 Planar SOFCs 256 9.6 Combined-Cycle and Other Systems 258 Further Reading 260 10 Fuels for Fuel Cells 263 10.1 Introduction 263 10.2 Fossil Fuels 266 10.2.1 Petroleum 266 10.2.2 Petroleum from Tar Sands, Oil Shales and Gas Hydrates 268 10.2.3 Coal and Coal Gases 268 10.2.4 Natural Gas and Coal-Bed Methane (Coal-Seam Gas) 270 10.3 Biofuels 272 10.4 Basics of Fuel Processing 275 10.4.1 Fuel-Cell Requirements 275 10.4.2 Desulfurization 275 10.4.3 Steam Reforming 277 10.4.4 Carbon Formation and Pre-Reforming 280 10.4.5 Internal Reforming 281 10.4.5.1 Indirect Internal Reforming (IIR) 283 10.4.5.2 Direct Internal Reforming (DIR) 283 10.4.6 Direct Hydrocarbon Oxidation 284 10.4.7 Partial Oxidation and Autothermal Reforming 285 10.4.8 Solar–Thermal Reforming 286 10.4.9 Sorbent-Enhanced Reforming 287 10.4.10 Hydrogen Generation by Pyrolysis or Thermal Cracking of Hydrocarbons 289 10.4.11 Further Fuel Processing: Removal of Carbon Monoxide 290 10.5 Membrane Developments for Gas Separation 293 10.5.1 Non-Porous Metal Membranes 293 10.5.2 Non-Porous Ceramic Membranes 294 10.5.3 Porous Membranes 294 10.5.4 Oxygen Separation 295 10.6 Practical Fuel Processing: Stationary Applications 295 10.6.1 Industrial Steam Reforming 295 10.6.2 Fuel-Cell Plants Operating with Steam Reforming of Natural Gas 296 10.6.3 Reformer and Partial Oxidation Designs 298 10.6.3.1 Conventional Packed-Bed Catalytic Reactors 298 10.6.3.2 Compact Reformers 299 10.6.3.3 Plate Reformers and Microchannel Reformers 300 10.6.3.4 Membrane Reactors 301 10.6.3.5 Non-Catalytic Partial Oxidation Reactors 302 10.6.3.6 Catalytic Partial Oxidation Reactors 303 10.7 Practical Fuel Processing: Mobile Applications 304 10.8 Electrolysers 305 10.8.1 Operation of Electrolysers 305 10.8.2 Applications 307 10.8.3 Electrolyser Efficiency 312 10.8.4 Photoelectrochemical Cells 312 10.9 Thermochemical Hydrogen Production and Chemical Looping 314 10.9.1 Thermochemical Cycles 314 10.9.2 Chemical Looping 317 10.10 Biological Production of Hydrogen 318 10.10.1 Introduction 318 10.10.2 Photosynthesis and Water Splitting 318 10.10.3 Biological Shift Reaction 320 10.10.4 Digestion Processes 320 Further Reading 321 11 Hydrogen Storage 323 11.1 Strategic Considerations 323 11.2 Safety 326 11.3 Compressed Hydrogen 327 11.3.1 Storage Cylinders 327 11.3.2 Storage Efficiency 329 11.3.3 Costs of Stored Hydrogen 330 11.3.4 Safety Aspects 330 11.4 Liquid Hydrogen 331 11.5 Reversible Metal Hydrides 333 11.6 Simple Hydrogen-Bearing Chemicals 338 11.6.1 Organic Chemicals 338 11.6.2 Alkali Metal Hydrides 339 11.6.3 Ammonia, Amines and Ammonia Borane 340 11.7 Complex Chemical Hydrides 341 11.7.1 Alanates 342 11.7.2 Borohydrides 342 11.8 Nanostructured Materials 344 11.9 Evaluation of Hydrogen Storage Methods 347 Further Reading 350 12 The Complete System and Its Future 351 12.1 Mechanical Balance-of-Plant Components 351 12.1.1 Compressors 351 12.1.1.1 Efficiency 354 12.1.1.2 Power 356 12.1.1.3 Performance Charts 356 12.1.1.4 Selection 359 12.1.2 Turbines 361 12.1.3 Ejector Circulators 362 12.1.4 Fans and Blowers 363 12.1.5 Pumps 364 12.2 Power Electronics 365 12.2.1 DC Regulators (Converters) and Electronic Switches 366 12.2.2 Step-Down Regulators 368 12.2.3 Step-Up Regulators 370 12.2.4 Inverters 371 12.2.4.1 Single Phase 372 12.2.4.2 Three Phase 376 12.2.5 Fuel-Cell Interface and Grid Connection Issues 378 12.2.6 Power Factor and Power Factor Correction 378 12.3 Hybrid Fuel-Cell + Battery Systems 380 12.4 Analysis of Fuel-Cell Systems 384 12.4.1 Well-to-Wheels Analysis 385 12.4.2 Power-Train Analysis 387 12.4.3 Life-Cycle Assessment 388 12.4.4 Process Modelling 389 12.4.5 Further Modelling 392 12.5 Commercial Reality 394 12.5.1 Back to Basics 394 12.5.2 Commercial Progress 395 12.6 Future Prospects: The Crystal Ball Remains Cloudy 397 Further Reading 399 Appendix 1 Calculations of the Change in Molar Gibbs Free Energy 401 A1.1 Hydrogen Fuel Cell 401 A1.2 Carbon Monoxide Fuel Cell 403 Appendix 2 Useful Fuel-Cell Equations 405 A2.1 Introduction 405 A2.2 Oxygen and Air Usage 406 A2.3 Exit Air Flow Rate 407 A2.4 Hydrogen Usage 407 A2.5 Rate of Water Production 408 A2.6 Heat Production 409 Appendix 3 Calculation of Power Required by Air Compressor and Power Recoverable by Turbine in Fuel-Cell Exhaust 411 A3.1 Power Required by Air Compressor 411 A3.2 Power Recoverable from Fuel-Cell Exhaust with a Turbine 412 Glossary of Terms 415 Index 437

About the Author :
ANDREW L. DICKS, PHD is an Independent Consultant and Adjunct Principal Research Fellow at Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia. DAVID A. J. RAND, PHD, SCD was a Chief Research Scientist at CSIRO where, among other duties, he served as scientific advisor on hydrogen and renewable energy. In retirement, he is now a CSIRO Honorary Research Fellow, Melbourne, Australia.

Review :
Ever since its initial publication, Fuel Cell Systems Explained has been one of the most approachable books on the subject. Well-written and concise, the third edition maintains that tradition. The scientific and technical sections are clear and logical, and lead the reader carefully through the complexities of fuel cell materials and operating conditions, from basic principles to specific fuel cell types. This is all prefaced by a history of the sector. While this latter may seem tangential to those seeking electrochemical equations, in fact it is both interesting and useful, for example in helping me understand some of the technology development decisions that have been made over the years. It is also interesting to discover that one of the very first applications was of a fuel cell developed by Bacon and trialled in a forklift, perhaps not coincidentally one of the most successful sectors today, and that fuel cells were viewed as superior to batteries as far back as the Gemini space missions; a technology supremacy discussion which is just as live today. - David Hart, Director, E4tech and lead author of the annual Fuel Cell Industry Review The Third Edition of Fuel Cell Systems Explained is an updated version of a book that has always been essential reading for everyone entering into the fuel cell sector, be they student or industrial practitioner. This edition introduces the basic principles of thermodynamics and electrochemical kinetics pertinent to the understanding of fuel cell operation, and determining fuel cell efficiency and voltage losses. But the heart of the book are the six chapters detailing each of the principal fuel cell technologies; proton-exchange membrane fuel cells; alkaline fuel cells; direct liquid fuel cells; phosphoric acid fuel cells; molten carbonate fuel cells and solid oxide fuel cells. There are also useful chapters covering different fuels and fuel processing options, hydrogen storage and a short discussion of balance-of-plant. I am delighted to say that it is a book that I will continue to recommend highly as a first read to all those who join my own research group to work on this exciting technology. - Professor Nigel Brandon OBE FREng, Imperial College London, UK