Imagine

A future with no wars over limited supplies of Oil

A future when every country is energy self-
sufficient
Earth with no Acid rains, Ozone depletion or
warming

An overview of Hydrogen Fuel Cell

– The energy solution for Future
 We look at
• Energy Resources & Hydrogen today
• Hydrogen Energy – energy for future
• Hydrogen Fuel Cells
– How they developed
– Basics and working principle
– Types
– Areas of Application
– Benefits and prospects
• Hydrogen - The Energy for tomorrow
• Hydrogen – The Energy solution for
future
Energy Resources

Hydrogen
Energy of
Future
 Hydrogen - Today

Production Storage
Use

Steam Reforming Cryogenic Liquid

of Petrolium
Space Programme
 Hydrogen Energy
Hydrogen is the simplest and the
most plentiful element in the
universe. Despite its simplicity
and abundance, hydrogen
doesn't occur naturally as a gas
on the Earth — it's always
combined with other elements.
Hydrogen is high in energy, yet an engine that
burns pure hydrogen produces almost no
pollution. NASA has used liquid hydrogen since
the 1970s to propel the space shuttle and other
rockets into orbit. Hydrogen fuel cells power
the shuttle's electrical systems, producing a
clean byproduct—pure water, which the crew
drinks.
 What is a Fuel Cell ?
Electricity
In principle, Fuel cells are
electrochemical devices like
batteries that convert the
chemical energy of a fuel
directly and very efficiently
into electricity (DC) and heat,
thus doing away with
combustion. Unlike a battery,
a fuel cell does not run down
or require recharging. It will
produce energy in the form of
electricity and heat as long as
Electrodes Electrolyte fuel is supplied.
How Fuel Cells developed ?
William Robert Grove discovered that by arranging two
platinum electrodes with one end of each immersed in a
container of sulfuric acid and the other ends separately
sealed in containers of oxygen and hydrogen, a constant
current would flow between the electrodes. By combining
several sets of these electrodes in a series circuit he he soon
accomplished this feat in 1839 with the device he named a
"gas battery" the first fuel cell.
In 1889, Chemist Ludwig Mond and assistant Carl Langer
described their experiments with a fuel cell using coal-
derived "Mond-gas." They attained 6 amps per square foot
(measuring the surface area of the electrode) at 0.73 volts.
Mond and Langer's cell used electrodes of thin, perforated
platinum.
William W. Jacques an electrical engineer and chemist, in
1896 startled the scientific world and general public by his
broad assertion that he had invented a process of making
electricity directly from coal. Jacques constructed a "carbon
battery" in which air was injected into an alkali electrolyte to
react (he thought) with a carbon electrode. It turned out,
however, that instead of electrochemical action with an
efficiency of 82 percent, he was obtaining thermoelectric
action with an efficiency of about 8 percent.
 Todys’s Fuel Cell
A fuel cell system which
includes a "fuel reformer"
can utilize the hydrogen from
any hydrocarbon fuel - from
natural gas to methanol, and
even gasoline. Since the fuel
cell relies on chemistry and
not combustion, emissions
from this type of a system
would still be much smaller
than emissions from the
cleanest fuel combustion
A modern Fuel processes.
Cell Assembly
What is the Principle ?

A fuel cell consists of

two electrodes
sandwiched around an
electrolyte. Oxygen
passes over one
electrode and hydrogen
over the other,
generating electricity,
water and heat. 
How it Works ?

    Layers of materials with

distinct electrochemical
properties are sandwiched
together to form a single
galvanic cell.At the heart lies
a membrane that can only be
crossed by charged
molecules. Gas-permeable
electrodes coated with a
catalyst adhere to this
membrane, adding a layer on
either side.These electrodes
are in turn connected to a
device that can utilize
electricity— a load— which
creates a complete electrical
circuit.
 Working Principle

    Hydrogen gas(H2)flows
into channels on one face
of the cell and migrates
through that electrode,
while the same occurs with
oxygen gas (O2, typically
from the ambient air)
along the opposite
electrode.
Spurred by a catalyst, favorable chemistry causes the
hydrogen to oxidize into hydrogen protons and give up its
electrons to the neighboring electrode, which thereby
becomes the anode. This buildup of negative charge then
follows the path of least resistance via the external circuit to
the other electrode (the cathode). It is this flow of electrons
through a circuit that creates electricity.
 Working Principle- Contd…

But this wouldn't continue for long

without a complete electrochemical
cycle. As the electrical current begins
to flow,hydrogen protons pass
through the membrane from the
anode to the cathode.
When the electrons return from doing work—lighting your
house , charging a battery, or powering your car's motor, for
example—they react with oxygen and the hydrogen protons at
the cathode to form water.Heat emanates from this union (an
exothermic reaction), as well as from the frictional resistance
of ion transfer through the membrane. This thermal energy
can be utilized outside the fuel cell.
Anode Reaction: H2 —> 2 H+ + 2 e-
Cathode Reaction: ½ O2 + 2 H+ + 2 e- —> H2O
 Fuel Cell Types
Fuel Cell type Electrolyte Anode gas Cathode T Efficienc
gas emp y%
Proton Ex Solid Hydrogen Pure or Atm
o
C
75 35 - 60
Membrane polymer Oxygen
(PEM) membrane
Alkaline Potassium Hydrogen Pure < 80 50 - 70
(AFC) Hydroxide Oxygen
Direct Solid Methanol Atm 75 35 - 40
Methanol polymer solln in Oxygen
( DMFC)
Phosphoric membrane
Phosphorus Water
Hydrogen Atm 210 35 - 50
Acid (PAFC) Oxygen
Molten Alkali Hydrogen / Atm 650 40 - 55
Carbonate Carbonate Methane Oxygen
Solid(MCFC)
Oxide Ceramic Hydrogen / Atm 800 - 45 - 60
( SOFC) Oxides Methane Oxygen 1000
 Potential Applications

• Stationary power generation

• Residential
• Transportation – No pollution
• Portable power – Miniature Fuel
Cells
• Land fill Waste treatment – Power
from Methane in-situ .
 Stationary Power
• More than 2500 fuel cell systems
have been installed all over the
world in hospitals, nursing homes,
hotels, office buildings, schools,
utility power plants, and an airport
terminal, providing primary power
or backup.
• In large-scale building systems,
fuel cells can reduce facility energy
service costs by 20% to 40% over
conventional energy service.
 Residential Power
• Ideal for residential power generation,
either to provide supplemental power
and backup for critical areas, or installed
as independent generator in areas that
are inaccessible by power lines.
• Operating silently, they reduce noise &
air pollution and the waste heat can be
used to provide hot water or room
heating for a home.
• Prototypes being tested & demonstrated
for residential use extract hydrogen from
propane or natural gas.
 Powering Transportation
• All the major automotive manufacturers
have a fuel cell vehicle either in
development or in testing right now
• Honda and Toyota have already begun
leasing vehicles in California and Japan.
• Automakers and experts speculate that
the fuel cell vehicle may be
commercialized by at least 2010.
• Fuel cells are also being incorporated
into buses, locomotives, airplanes,
scooters and golf carts.
 Revolutionize Portable
• Power
Miniature fuel cells will help consumers talk for
up to a month on a cellular phone without
recharging.
• Fuel cells will change the telecommuting
world, powering laptops and palm pilots hours
longer than batteries.
• Other applications for micro fuel cells include
pagers, video recorders, portable power
tools, and low power remote devices such as
hearing aids, smoke detectors, burglar alarms,
hotel locks and meter readers.
• These miniature fuel cells generally run on
methanol, an inexpensive wood alcohol also
used in windshield wiper fluid.
Landfills and Waste Water
Treatment

• Fuel cells currently operate at

landfills and wastewater treatment
plants across USA.
• Providing a valid technology for
reducing emissions and generating
power from the methane gas they
produce.
 Benefits
No other energy generating
technology holds the combination of
benefits that fuel cells offer

• Energy Security : Abundant Source

• Supply Security : Efficient, modular and fuel
flexible
• Physical security : resources evenly distributed in
nature
• High Reliability
• High quality power
• High Efficiency – as high as 85%
• ENVORONMANTALLY FRIENDLY
 Energy Security
• Being efficient, modular and fuel flexible, fuel cells can enable a
transition to a secure, renewable energy future, based on the use
of hydrogen.
• A fuel cell system that includes a "fuel reformer" can utilize the
hydrogen from any hydrocarbon or alcohol fuel - natural gas,
ethanol, methanol, propane, and even gasoline or diesel.
• Hydrogen can also be produced from electricity from conventional,
nuclear or renewable sources.
• Hydrogen can be extracted from novel feed stocks such as landfill
gas or anaerobic digester gas from wastewater treatment plants,
from biomass technologies, or from hydrogen compounds
containing no carbon, such as ammonia or borohydride.
• Fuel cells and Electrolysis, in combination with solar or wind power,
or any renewable source of electricity offer the promise of a totally
zero-emission energy system that requires no fossil fuel and is not
limited by variations in sunlight or wind flow.
• This hydrogen can supply energy for power needs and for
transportation.
 High Reliability
• Fuel cells can be configured to provide backup
power to a grid-connected customer, if
the grid fail.
• They can be configured to provide completely
grid-independent power.
• They can also use the grid as the backup
system.
• Modular installation (several identical units to
provide a desired quantity of electricity)
provides extremely high reliability .
• In specialized applications, fuel cells can
achieve up to 99.9999% reliability, less than one
minute of down time in a six year period.
High Quality and Efficiency
• Fuel cells offer high quality power,
crucial to an economy that
depends on increasingly sensitive
computers, medical equipment
and machines.
• High Efficiency as they make
energy electrochemically, and do
not burn fuel.
• Fuel cells are fundamentally more
efficient than combustion systems.
 Environmental Benefits
• Air pollution continues to be a primary
health concern in the industrialized world.
• Exposure to ozone, particulate, or airborne
toxic chemicals has substantial health
consequences.
• Scientists are now directly linking air
pollution to heart disease, asthma and
cancer.
• Recent health studies suggest polluted
urban air is a comparable health threat to
Fuel cellssmoking.
passive can reduce pollution today and
offer the promise of eliminating pollution
tomorrow
 Hydrogen - Tomorrow
Storage
Production

Use

Bio-mass & Innovative Tank

Electrolysis Designs

Fuel for FUEL CELLS

 Hydrogen production for
Future

Solar powered
Electrolysis

Photo- Algal Production

electrochemical
Hydrogen
Power

Thank you all