TECH

Methane fuel cell operates at practical temperature


Methane fuel cell
Fuel cells are extremely promising, emitting only water as waste, but have stumbled at very high operating temperatures, making them impractical.That may have just changed, thanks to a new cell that runs on low-cost fuel at temperatures comparable to that of car engines.Yu Chen and his colleagues at the Georgia Institute of Technology redesigned the entire fuel cell with the help of an innovative fuel catalyst.The catalyst dispenses the feed by pure hydrogen fuel, making its own hydrogen from methane, a cheap and readily available gas. Hydrogen is a clean fuel but it is still depending on advances in artificial photosynthesis to get out of the oil chain and become environmentally friendly and cheaper.But an equally compelling gain seems to have come from the redesign the team made in the fuel cell: Its operating temperature dropped dramatically.

Cold fuel cell
Methane fuel cells usually require temperatures of 750 to 1,000 degrees Celsius to work. This new version needs only about 500º C, which is below the temperature of the combustion engines of the cars, operating at up to 600º C.This lower temperature may cause a cascade reduction in the ancillary technology needed to operate the fuel cell, potentially bringing the new cell to commercial viability."Our cell can create a robust and simple system that uses stainless steel to make the interconnectors," said Professor Meilin Liu - interconnectors are parts that help to attach many fuel cells to a cell or functional unit."Above 750 ° C, no metal would withstand the temperature without oxidation, so you would have a lot of trouble getting materials, and they would be extremely expensive and fragile, and they would contaminate the cell," added the researcher.Decreasing the temperature to 500 ° C solves this bottleneck.In addition, the new cell also eliminates the need for an important auxiliary equipment, called steam reformer, which is usually needed to convert methane and water into hydrogen.

Stationary use
Unfortunately the technology is not suitable for use in cars, being more promising for stationary uses.
"It is expected that you will be able to install this device as a tankless water heater, it will run on natural gas to power your home, which would save on the huge costs of new power plants and large expansions of power grids," Liu said.



Bibliography:
A robust fuel cell operated on near dry methane at 500 ° C enabled by synergistic thermal catalysis and electrocatalysis
Yu Chen, Ben deGlee, Yu Tang, Ziyun Wang, Zhao Boat, Yuechang Wei, Zhang Lei, Seonyoung Yoo, Kai Pei, Jun Hyuk Kim, Yong Ding, P. Hu, Franklin Feng Tao, Meilin Liu
Nature Energy