Commercial Activities in Relation to PEMFC

Raising the temperature of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, beyond 100°C, brings a number of difficulties. Works addressing these problems are described in Section 18.8. 

At present, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells and power plants based on such fuel cells are produced on commercial scale by a number of companies in many countries. As a rule, the standard battery version of the 1990s is used in these batteries, though in certain cases different ways of eliminating water and regulating the water balance (water management) have been adopted. 

At present, apart from the United States, polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells and power plants on their basis are developed in many other countries including China, France, Germany, South Korea, and the United Kingdom, and so on. The major part of the power plants delivered in 2006 (about 60%) was for power supply to portable equipment. The second place (about 26%) was taken by small stationary power plants for uninterruptible power supply. 

Approximately 75% of the work on polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells is conducted in industrial organizations, the remaining 25% in academic and government organizations. This proves that the initial research and engineering stage has already been terminated and the commercial development of these fuel cells is under way. A detailed analysis of the different ways, to make polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells, can be found in the review of Mehta and Cooper (2003). 

PROTON-EXCHANGE MEMBRANE EUEL CELLS (PEMFC) 

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