Fuel cells impact

Oertel, D. and Fleischer, T. (2003). Fuel Cells. Impact and Consequences of Fuel Cells Technology on Sustainable Development. Technical Report Series EUR 20681 EN. Seville European Commission, Joint Research Centre (JRC), Institute for Prospective Technological Studies (IPTS). 

Fleischer, T., Oertel, D. (2003). Fuel cells - impact and consequences of fuel cell technology on sustainable development. Report EUR 20681 EN, European Commission JRC, Sevilla. 

The advantages of fuel cells impact particularly strongly on combined heat and power systems (for both large- and small-scale applications), and on mobile power systems. 

Oertel, D. and Fleischer T. FUEL CELLS Impact and consequences of fuel cells technology on sustainable development. Technical Report Series, EUR 20681 EN, March 2003. 

The industrial economy depends heavily on electrochemical processes. Electrochemical systems have inherent advantages such as ambient temperature operation, easily controlled reaction rates, and minimal environmental impact (qv). Electrosynthesis is used in a number of commercial processes. Batteries and fuel cells, used for the interconversion and storage of energy, are not limited by the Carnot efficiency of thermal devices. Corrosion, another electrochemical process, is estimated to cost hundreds of millions of dollars aimuaUy in the United States alone (see Corrosion and CORROSION control). Electrochemical systems can be described using the fundamental principles of thermodynamics, kinetics, and transport phenomena. 

System integration involves numerous miscellaneous development activities, such as control software to address system start-up, shut-down and transient operation, and thermal sub-systems to accomplish heat recovei y, heat rejection and water recoveiy within the constraints of weight, size, capital and operating costs, reliability, and so on. Depending on the application, there will be additional key issues automotive applications, for example, demand robustness to vibrations, impact, and cold temperatures, since if the water freezes it will halt fuel cell operation. 

As crude oil reserves dwindle, the marketplace will either transition to the electrifying of the transportation system (electric and fuel-cell vehicles and electric railways), with the electricity being produced by coal, natural gas, nuclear and renewables, or see the development of an industry to produce liquid fuel substitutes from coal, oil shale, and tar sands. It might also turn out to be a combination of both. The transition will vary by nation and will be dictated strongly by the fuels available, the economic and technological efficiencies of competitive systems, the relative environmental impacts of each technology, and the role government takes in the marketplace. 

If fuel cells could be used in transportation vehicles, it could have a major impact on worldwide consumption of petroleum. Major improvements that are needed for this to happen include increasing the efficiency of fuel cells, increasing their power density, reducing their manufacturing cost, and developing fuel cell designs capable of rapid start-up. 

Today s society asks for technology that has a minimum impact on the environment. Ideally, chemical processes should be clean in that harmful byproducts or waste are avoided. Moreover, the products, e.g. fuels, should not generate environmental problems when they are used. The hydrogen fuel cell (Chapter 8) and the hydrodesulfurization process (Chapter 9) are good examples of such technologies where catalysts play an essential role. However, harmful emissions cannot always be avoided, e.g. in power generation and automotive traffic, and here catalytic clean-up technology helps to abate environmental pollution. This is the subject of this chapter. 

Schafer, A., J.B. Heywood, A. Malcolm, Weiss, Future fuel cell and internal combustion engine automobile technologies A 25-year life cycle and fleet impact assessment. Energy, 31, 2064-2087,2006. 

Thomas, C.E., B.D. James, F.D. Lomax and I.F. Kuhn, Societal Impacts of Fuel Options for Fuel Cell Vehicles, Society of Automotive Engineers Technical Paper No. 982496, Fuels and Lubricants Meeting and Exposition, San Francisco, CA, October 19-22,1998. 

Dayton, D. C. Ratcliff, M. Bain, R., Fuel Cell Integration—A Study of the Impacts of Gas Quality and Impurities. NREL, Golden, CO, 2001. 

Syngas cleanup system - low or high temperature and processes used to remove sulfur, nitrogen, particulates, and other compounds that may impact the suitability of the syngas for specific applications (i.e., turbine and fuel cell for electric power generation, hydrogen production, liquid fuel production, or chemical production). 

The overall advantages of fuel cells are the low environmental impact, which is one to two orders of magnitude lower than in conventional systems, good part load behavior, easy operation, and low maintenance since no rotating parts are needed. The main disadvantages at the moment are the very high costs and the lack of demonstrated reliability. 

The SEA method can also be applied for the synthesis of bimetallic catalysts. For illustration, the potentially high impact area of bimetallic catalysts for fuel cells will be discussed. 

Chapter six considers the impact of fuel cells on power generation. One concept is to use hydrogen cars as mobile power sources. Other topics include the benefits of fuel cells, coal gasification, solar, wind and nuclear power. 

Thinking about cars as power plants is not something that we are conditioned to do, but it is an indication of how fuel cells could impact our lives as mobile utilities. 

Companies such as United Technologies Corp. (UTC), Ballard Energy Systems, Plug Power, M-C Power, AlliedSignal, and Siemens-Westing-house have been developing fuel cell products for the commercial market and may be impacted by this trend. 

To analyse these problems, the impact of fuel-cell technologies on the service sector was analysed in Germany in a project of the BERTA programme financed by the German Federal Ministry of Economics.3 The possible impacts were examined with regard to job profiles, qualifications and the job market, to prepare the branches involved most optimally. 

The scenarios developed in the project showed a wide range of possible impacts for trade. In the worst case, the installer will lose clients as the energy supplier may offer an all-inclusive service to the customer. This means that the energy supplier will install its own fuel-cell heating appliances in the cellar or basement of the customer s house, provide electricity and heat and be paid an all-inclusive price by the customer. The energy supplier employs its own technicians for installation, maintenance and repair. The customer does not know whether the electricity is generated by the... 

Erdmann, G. and Grahl, M. (2000). Competitiveness and economic impacts of fuel cell electric vehicles on the future German market. Proceedings Hyforum 2000, (September 11-15). Munich. 

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