Applications spacecraft fuels

As outlined in Section 6.2, there are many potential applications for fuel cells. Some of these are specialized and therefore do not command large markets, e.g., spacecraft, submarine traction. Prospective mass markets fall into four broad categories, as follows. 

Fuel cells are very useful as power sources in remote locations, such as spacecraft, remote weather stations, large parks, rural locations, and in certain military applications. A fuel cell system running on hydrogen can be compact, lightweight and has no major moving parts. Because fuel cells have no moving parts, and do not involve combustion, in ideal conditions they can achieve up to 99.9999% reliability. This equates to less than one minute of down time in a six year period. 

Although the principle of fuel cells has been known since 1838, practical applications arc fairly recent. The first applications were in the space program, where fuel cells powered the Gemini and Apollo spacecraft. In the 1960s and 1970s, fuel cells... 

The sulfonyl fluoride groups were hydrolyzed after the polymer had been processed into the membrane. One of the earliest applications of Nafion was in hydrogen/oxygen fuel cells such as those which provided electrical power for the Apollo spacecraft used for the manned expeditions to the moon in the early 1970s. 

For closed-cycle applications, such as for spacecraft, submarines, or transportation vehicles, the combinations of lightweight, reasonable power density, and compact size are favorable features in comparison with equivalent-capacity battery-based systems. In the International Space Station, for example, both electricity and water are provided by fuel cells. Fuel cells have not only been used in space exploration, but also in submarines (because they generate no noise or vibration). They have also been used to recover the energy from methane that is generated by wastewater, by garbage dumps, and more recently in automobiles as an alternative to the IC engine. 

In spacecraft and similar closed-circuit fuel cell applications, partial pressure reductions are not a problem, other than for the production of waste-water. Therefore, constant supply pressure can be used, which greatly simplifies the control requirements, as the system becomes self-regulating on the demand side. In such applications, the waste can simply be blown down to a reservoir, based on time and current draw. 

Hydrazine is mostly sold as an aqueous solution anhydrous hydrazine is only used as a rocket fuel or as a mono- or bipropellant for satellites and spacecrafts. About 80-90% of the hydrazine produced is converted into organic derivatives. Other applications are based on its use as a reducing agent, as an energy-rich compound, or on its hydrogen storage capacity. 

Advances in fuel cells were later accelerated by space and defense programs. Fuel cells found initial practical application with the Gemini (1962-1966) and the Apollo (1968-1972) spacecraft missions, and are still used to provide water and electricity for the Space Shuttle. The upgrade in fuel cell performance over the last four decades has been based on the development of new proton-conducting polymers, like Nafion and Gore-tex , ceramics and catalysts, as well as on greater insights into... 

The primary use for plutonium (Pu) is in nuclear power reactors, nuclear weapons, and radioisotopic thermoelectric generators (RTGs). Pu is formed as a by-product in nuclear reactors when uranium nuclei absorb neutrons. Most of this Pu is burned (fissioned) in place, but a significant fraction remains in the spent nuclear fuel. The primary plutonium isotope formed in reactors is the fissile Pu-239, which has a half-life of 24 400 years. In some nuclear programs (in Europe and Japan), Pu is recovered and blended with uranium (U) for reuse as a nuclear fuel. Since Pu and U are in oxide form, this blend is called mixed oxide or MOX fuel. Plutonium used in nuclear weapons ( weapons-grade ) is metallic in form and made up primarily (>92%) of fissile Pu-239. The alpha decay of Pu-238 (half-life = 86 years) provides a heat source in RTGs, which are long-lived batteries used in some spacecraft, cardiac pacemakers, and other applications. 

Fuel cells are voltaic cells in which the reactants are continuously supplied to the cell and the products are continuously removed. The hydrogen-oxygen fuel cell (Figure 21-17) already has many applications. It is used in spacecraft to supplement the energy obtained from solar cells. Liquid H2 is carried on board as a propellant. The boiled-off H2 vapor that ordinarily would be lost is used in a fuel cell to generate electrical power. 

Perfluorinated polyethers have also gained importance as actively functional materials. Ionic polymer membranes (e.g. DuPont s Nafion ) based on sulfonic acid-derivatized perfluoropolyethers have been used for nearly 30 years as ion-con-ducting membranes in chloralkali electrolysis cells, replacing the large amounts of toxic mercury used until then in the classic Castner-Kellner cells (Scheme 4.8.). One of the earliest applications of Nafion was as a membrane in the hydrogen-oxygen fuel cells which powered the Apollo spacecraft carrying the first men to the moon. 

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