Fuel cell hardware separation

Fuel cell hardware recycling promises to be an important environmental aspect of mass-produced systems. In recovery, materials are collected and separated before being reused, remanufactured, recycled or used for energy recovery, as follows ... 

As fnel cells move from laboratory and/or pilot plarrt settings to wide-scale deployment, an opporturrity exists to consider the environmental aspects of the hardware life cycle. Here, the life cycle extends from materials sotrrces (acqrrisition from the earth) throrrgh recovery, with Section 5.2 introducing some errvirorrmental aspects of fuel cell rrraterials. Section 5.3 continues by defining hardware recovery to include collectiorr, separation arrd snbsequent system or componerrt rerrse and... 

Reuse of components tends to be preferred among hardware recycling options. Reuse refers to the direct use of components and subassemblies back into fuel cells without additional processing. The Society of Automotive Engineers (2003) notes that reuse depends on separability, the demand for reusable components in repair or replacement, component durability, the cost of new components and the collection and distribution infrastructure. However, reuse is also hampered by design changes as new features are incorporated into fuel... 

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