Alcohol Fuel Cells as an Alternative Solution to Foreign Oil Dependence

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Alcohol Fuel Cells as an Alternative Solution to
Foreign Oil Dependence

• Agnes B. Rooke

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Alcohol Fuel Cells as a Viable Alternative to the
Internal Combustion Engine
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• Policy Should Address
• Reduce dependence on foreign oil
• Increasing demand on transportation
  infrastructure
• Address the availability of refueling sites
  promote cooperation both on a technical and
  fiscal level between government and industry (tax
  incentives)
• Reduce air pollution
• Need for direct government involvement in the
  fuel cell industry
• Reduce noise pollution
• Benefit farm communities who produce Biomass
  feedstock
• Stimulate the technological development of fuel
  cells

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Summary of Conclusions

• Foreign oil dependency can be reduced with fuel
  cells
• Environmental air pollution can be reduced with
  fuel cells
• Fuel cell vehicles produce less noise than
  traditional vehicles
• The need for Biomass borne fuels such as Ethanol
  would stimulate the economic development of rural
  farm communities
• Fuel cell research and development for
  transportation would also stimulate technological
  development of fuel cells in other areas, such as
  portable electrically powered devices

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Summary of Conclusions

• Vehicles using fuel cells are less expensive to
  maintain and operate then conventional internal
  combustion vehicles
• Vehicles utilizing alcohol fuels can benefit
  from the existing gasoline infrastructure

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American Reliance on Oil
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Molecules used in a reformation fuel cell system
Carbon Monoxide
Hydrocarbon
Carbon Dioxide
Water
Oxygen Hydrogen
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How a Fuel Cell WorksReformation
Hydrocarbons (such as Ethanol), Water (H2O) and
Oxygen (O2) are processed through a reformer to
produce Hydrogen (H2), Carbon Dioxide (CO2) and
Carbon Monoxide (CO)
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Hydrocarbon Water Oxygen
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? Carbon Monoxide Carbon Dioxide Hydrogen
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How a Fuel Cell WorksFurther Oxidation of Carbon
to the Dioxide
Additional water is now added to the system. This
additional water serves to further oxidize the
Carbon Monoxide into less harmful Carbon Dioxide.
This CO Conversion step also produces an
additional molecule of hydrogen in the process,
thus increasing the efficiency of the system.
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Residual Water is Utilized for CO Conversion
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How a Fuel Cell WorksRelease of Carbon Dioxide
Following the further oxidation of Carbon
Monoxide, all the Carbon Dioxide is released into
the atmosphere as exhaust. At this point the
resulting hydrogen is ready for use in the fuel
cell. Since the Carbon Dioxide produced during
our reformation and oxidation process is part of
the living carbon cycle, numerically speaking
any additional carbon dioxide produced will be
incorporated into our renewable Fuel Alcohol once
new Biomass is grown.
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Carbon Dioxide is Released into the Atmosphere
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How a Fuel Cell WorksHydrogen is Oxidized and
Electrons Flow
A catalytic reaction converts diatomic hydrogen
into electrons and protons. The Protons (oxidized
monoatomic hydrogen) then pass through the
semi-permeable membrane and into the cathode
region of the cell. The resulting Electrons then
pass through a circuit that flows through a
motor, where electrical potential energy is
converted into work.
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Electrons Pass Through an Electric Motor to
Produce Mechanical Energy
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How a Fuel Cell WorksElectrons and Protons
Combine with Oxygen
The Electrons and Protons now recombine with
oxygen from the atmosphere to form water and heat
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Electrons, Protons and Oxygen Combine
Oxygen
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Water is Formed
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Thermal Energy and Water are Released into the
Environment
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How a renewable Biomass Based Fuel Actually
Reduces Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide Content
One additional benefit for the use of fuel cells
is a net negative contribution to the atmospheric
Carbon Dioxide Content. Since Alcohol based fuels
are not petroleum based and originate from
BioMass, they are both renewable and good for the
environment. Any Carbon Dioxide produced in the
Fuel Cell process will simply be incorporated
into new BioMass fuels that will be grown. The
net negative contribution results because of
grown BioMass that wont be converted into
useable fuel such as Cellulose and other plant
fibers.
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The Carbon Cycle in our Environment
6CO2 12H2O -gt C6H12O6 6H2O 6O2
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Definition of Flash Point
The flash point of a fuel is the temperature at
which vapor given off will ignite when an
external flame is applied under specified test
conditions. A flash point is defined to minimize
fire risk during normal storage and handling.
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Flash Point of Various Hydrocarbons
Flash Point FP

• Hydrogen FP -423 F
• Propane FP -125 F
• Gasoline FP -45 F
• Methanol FP 52 F
• Ethanol FP 55 F

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Properties of Hydrogen

• Will be stored as pressured gas in fuel cell
  vehicles Liquid H2 is expensive and cant easily
  be stored for long periods of time
• Storage vessel is bulky and expensive
• Hydrogen gas container must be strong enough to
  contain volatile hydrogen gas during a traffic
  accident

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Properties of Hydrogen

• Hydrogen must be produced and cant directly be
  harvested
• Electrolysis of water and biomass / ethanol
  reformation are the most likely candidates for
  production of hydrogen
• Possesses an extremely low flash point (-423 F)
  therefore at any temperature on earth hydrogen
  could easily combust

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Propane in a Fuel Cell

• Propane is a non-renewable resource
• Propane has a low flash point and is more
  dangerous then fuels such as Methanol or Ethanol

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Methanol in a Fuel Cell

• Methanol can easily be stored in liquid form
• Methanol has a moderately high flash point
• Onboard reformation of methanol is required for
  the direct use of methanol in fuel cell vehicle
• Methanol is a renewable resource

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Ethanol in a Fuel Cell

• Ethanol is easily stored as a liquid
• Ethanol has a higher flash point then Methanol
  thus it exhibits greater safety
• 75 Ethanol may be reformed onboard a fuel cell
  vehicle (0.83 per gallon) wet Ethanol is cheep
  to produce
• Nearly pure Ethanol must now be added to
  Gasoline in some urban areas (Chicago etc.) This
  is expensive and is subsidized by the government
  through farm provisions

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Chicago CTA BussesOperating onboard reformed
Ethanol
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Ethanol Production

• Ethanol is an alcohol-based alternative fuel
  produced by
• fermenting and distilling starch crops that have
  been converted into simple sugars could also be
  made from low cost materials such as sawdust and
  waist paper
• Feedstocks for this fuel include corn, barley and
  wheat, which contain appreciable amounts of
  sugar, such as starch
• Ethanol can also be produced from cellulosic
  biomass such as trees and grasses, which contain
  cellulose, and it is called Bioethanol
• Today ethanol production facilities are located
  in 20 states, and have capacity to produce 2.5
  Billion gallons per year

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Methanol Production

• Methanol is made from natural gas, landfill gas,
  sugar cane bagasse, coal, or wood chips

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What are the benefits of Ethanol?

• Reduces our dependence on foreign oil
• Reduces air pollution
• Is a renewable fuel
• More then 3 billion has been invested in 60
  ethanol production
• facilities
• The Ethanol industry is responsible for more then
  40,000 direct
• and indirect jobs, while it directly and
  indirectly adds more than
• 6 billion to the American economy each year
• The demand for grain created by ethanol
  production increases
• net farm income more than 12 billion annually
• Many farmers now own and operate ethanol plants,
  allowing
• them to add value to their own corn
• Domestic ethanol production reduces demand for
  imported oil

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Carbon Dioxide Benefits

• All petroleum hydrocarbon fuels cause increased
  atmospheric carbon dioxide levels because they
  represent the combustion of fossilized carbon,
  thus adding additional Carbon Dioxide to the
  atmosphere
• By contrast, using renewable fuels, such as
  ethanol, does not increase atmospheric carbon
  dioxide levels. The carbon dioxide formed during
  combustion is balanced by that absorbed during
  the annual growth of plants used to produce
  ethanol.

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Fuel Cell Automobile

• Fuel Cell has no moving parts
• Requires no oil for lubrication or general
  maintance
• Not limited by the Carnot cycle or mechanical
  connections Involving friction
• Reduced noise in operation limited only to the
  air compressor or fans
• More comfortable then conventional vehicles 1)
  no transmission for a smooth ride 2) less noise
  3) no dirty exhaust and 4) more interior room

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Ethanol fuel cells technology

• Device can obtain 40-50 efficiency in conversion
  of a fuel into
• useable power (as opposed to approximately 18
  efficiency for the average combustion engine)
• Wet Ethanol is cheap
• By 2008, a fleet of 3,000 fuel cell buses and
  5,000 cars could
• consume about 18 million gallons of ethanol
  yearly
• Compressed gas cylinders used for hydrogen fuel
  cells weigh 20
• times more then the fuel in them in contrast
  light featherweight plastic
• containers will hold gallons of liquid ethanol
  and will not subtract
• from the passenger or cargo carrying capacity of
  the vehicle

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Technical and Policy Barriers

• deployability gap of another 10-15 years before
  a business case can be made for mass market fuel
  cell cars
• Fuel cells need to receive a high priority for
  government research funding
• Well targeted tax incentives such as the Senate
  CLEAR Act
• (Cleaner Efficient Automobiles Resulting From
  Advanced Car
• Technologies) will help advance clean vehicle
  technologies
• Absence of market-wide requirements for higher
  fuel economy blocks progress on many vehicle
  technologies, including fuel cells
• Intellectual property rights, such as patents
  rights can hinder cheap development of ethanol
  fuel cells

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RFA
The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) announced
that According to the latest figures from
Argonne National Laboratory, the use of
ethanol-blended fuels reduced carbon dioxide-
equivalent greenhouse gas emissions by
approximately 4.3 million tons in the U.S.A.
during 2002 this reduction is equivalent to
removing the annual greenhouse gas emissions of
more than 636,000 cars from the roads By
pursuing policies to increase the use of ethanol,
we can not only enhance energy security and boost
rural economic development we can reduce air
pollution and cut greenhouse gas emissions.
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Importance of the big oil companies and other
large companies in Implementing fuel cell
technology

• Oil companies need to help build up a national
  network of
• filling stations alcohol fuels are dispensed
  just like gasoline
• Modest capital expenditures are required to
  convert existing
• gasoline stations to alcohol operation
• Oil companies have money and energy market
  know-how
• States must develop uniform standards for the
  sector with the
• advice of oil companies
• Some of the Companies working on fuel cells
  General Motors,
• Quantum Fuel Systems Technologies, Ford,
  DaimlerChrysler,
• Chevron Texaco, PPL Corp., General Electric,
  DuPont, 3M,
• BASF, Siemens

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General Motors Model Vehicles

• Cars with fuel cell technology will not have gas
  or break pedal
• Stop, trust toward and backwards, speed control
  will be
• performed by using steering wheel only
• engine will be quiet and smooth, driving compared
  to floating
• on air
• Target year of 2010 when 1 mln cars put on the
  market
• Price cheap ordinary car price, everybody
  should be able to
• afford the vehicle
• Predict huge market make trillions of
• Bushs research funding to develop fuel cells
  around 3.6 billion

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Ethanol Fuel Cells in other applications

• In early 2004 Toshiba plans to use an alcohol
  fuel cell to power a laptop
• Running time 5 hours
• Methanol will be used as a portable power source
  to power the fuel cell the alcohol fuel is
  provided in small 50cc cartridges the size of a
  computer mouse
• Cartridge is refillable
• Average power output is 12-20W, and unused energy
  is
• stored in the fuel cell

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Ethanol Fuel Cells in other applications

• NEC and SONY are developing fuel cells that turn
  methanol directly into electricity and could have
  many times the capacity of current lithium-ion
  batteries
• They use recently discovered forms of
  carbon-Fullerenes
• Use of fullerene sheets rolled into a microscopic
  cones,
• incorporating platinum atoms to catalyze the
  electrochemical reaction that rips methanol apart
• Such cells are 20 more efficient than existing
  fuel cells
• Could give mobile phones and laptops many weeks
  of operation before recharging
• production 2003-2005
• This system could also be one day be used in
  vehicles

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