Fuel hydrocarbon fuelled

The prognosis, then, for road transportation is for a varied mix of propulsion systems and fuels as conventional petroleum becomes less plentiful and prices rise. Internal combustion engines operating with synthetic liquid fuels (hydrocarbons, alcohols and bio-diesel) are expected to appear in increasing numbers, often supported by hybrid electric drives to reduce fuel consumption. Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles may become popular when more durable and affordable batteries become available. This would allow the power source to be part liquid fuel and part mains electricity. Some of the major obstacles to be overcome with hydrogen-fuelled vehicles are ... 

Meyer et al. also described the full range of hydrocarbon fuelled fuel cell systems that International Fuel Cells, LLC had developed by the year 2000 [627]. The fuels ranged from methane to heavy hydrocarbons and the system size from 500 W to 11 MW. The fuel cell technology, which was suppUed with hydrogen from the fuel processors, were reported to cover alkaline, proton exchange, molten carbonate and phosphoric acid fuel cells. However, no details were provided concerning the specific applications or performance of these systems. 

The biggest attraction of fuel-cell-powered vehicles for car manufacturers is the fact that they no longer emit nitrogen oxides or hydrocarbons (or carbon dioxide if they are fuelled with pure hydrogen). (Burning hydrogen in internal combustion engines results in NOx emissions fuel-cell vehicles emit only water.) This effectively does away with one of the main environmental discussion points about traffic. In California, these zero-emission cars have been demanded since the foundation of the California Fuel Cell Partnership in 1999. 

A three-way catalyst (TWC) is used for the conversion of exhaust emissions from gasoline-fuelled vehicles. The TWC converts toxic emissions (like CO, NOx, hydrocarbons) into their non-toxic components N2, 02, HzO, and C02. The TWC gives the best conversion at the stoichiometric air/fuel (A/F) ratio (=14.6/1), which is... 

Fuelled by hydrogen or almost any hydrocarbon fuel including coal gas... 

Although PEFC are best fuelled with neat hydrogen, hydrogen containing gasses resulting from reformed hydrocarbons or methanol can be used as well, however, at the expense of power density due to dilution of the fuel by CO2 and potentially N2 as well as trace amounts of residual CO. 

Liquid-fuelled solid-polymer-electrolyte fuel cells are very promising as electrochemical power sources and have drawn immense attention as high-effidency and low-emission power sources, for application in portable devices and automotive ap>phcations (Li, 2006). Fuel cells are an alternative power sources that could be a future substitutes of the hydrocarbons as energy source. 

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