Another breakthrough in the science of fuel cells was just confirmed this 2014. Researchers in Washington State University have developed coin-sized fuel cells that provide electrical power on commercial airplanes. In the May 2014 volume of the Energy Technology journal, the research paper entitled “High-Performance Molybdenum Dioxide-Based Anode for Dodecane-Fueled Solid-Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFCs)” was the cover story describing this breakthrough.
Researchers from Washington State University Inspecting a Fuel Cell
Image Source: Science Daily Website
Research Background
According to the paper, the first fuel cell that can directly convert jet or gasoline fuels to electricity has been developed after 10 years of research and development. Specifically, the SOFCs became the main subject of scientific experiment that was made possible through the collaboration of professors in Voiland College of Engineering and Architecture, Kyung Hee University in South Korea, and Boeing Company in Seattle. In our previous post “What are Fuel Cells?”, we mentioned that the fuel cell is a growing industry that serves the transport, stationary, and portable sectors. There were also many highly-funded research and development projects that focused on making fuel cells practical and cost-effective sources of energy. This recent story on the newly developed fuel cell was just one of them.
What is the Research Breakthrough?
It was a Solid-Oxide Fuel Cell (SOFC) which the researchers used to directly inject with liquid fuels. Aside from using solid materials, what made SOFCs different from all other types of fuel cells is the electrochemical process by which electricity is produced. In SOFCs, electricity is created by negatively charged oxygen ions travelling from the cathode to the anode instead of positively charged hydrogen ions travelling from the anode to the cathode (which is the case for fuel cells like PEMFC and SCFC). Jet and gasoline fuels are usually fed into combustion engines in order to be converted into components that make the engines run. This fact became one of the researchers’ biggest challenges since they wanted to avoid the weight of such a conversion device. They created a so-called “unique catalyst material” that uses a novel processing technique. Its main purpose is to convert liquid fuels into components such as hydrogen and carbon monoxide which in turn make the fuel cells function. Another problem the researchers used to solve using this catalyst was the effect of sulfur poisoning and choking brought about by imperfect combustion. Overall, the result was high-performance SOFCs that operate out of jet or gasoline fuel.
Impact on Aviation Industry and Beyond
With the main goal of developing a fuel cell that will provide electrical power on airplanes, the breakthrough is already half-way to success. According to one of the researchers from Boeing, this development of new SOFC is a key step in the integration of fuel cell technology in the aviation industry. Moreover, the development of SOFC using gasoline may replace the polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFCs), a type of fuel cell widely used in electric vehicles today. With this new fuel cell, electric vehicles can soon rely on gasoline stations rather than on hydrogen refueling stations. Further direction of development is the integration of fuel cells in batteries. With all these developments, electric airplanes, electric vehicles and auxiliary power units are soon to be powered by solid-oxide fuel cells injected with liquid fuels.
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