Re: Methanol Fuel Cell - Almost here?

Eeyore wrote:

George wrote:

It's been 3 years now, anyone heard anything more about this?

Quoted from -
http://www.usc.edu/schools/college/college_magazine/summer_2003/prakash_fuel_cell.html

"The old membrane, the commercially made Nafion, allowed protons to
pass through easily but also let liquid methanol and excessive water
move across the barrier and degrade the fuel cell's overall
performance. In addition, Nafion costs $900 per square meter.

The new membrane is made of a material that, when wet, feels like
seaweed. The team created it by mixing a polymer (PSSA) with a polymer
matrix (PVDF) similar to nonstick coating used on pans. The team makes
the new membrane in the lab and estimates that it costs under $10 per
square meter.

Incorporating the new membrane has increased the fuel cell's energy
efficiency by 10 percent, bringing the total efficiency to 35 percent
at room temperature. An average internal combustion engine's
efficiency is 18 percent.

A number of companies already have announced plans to use
liquid-methanol fuel cells, which are much easier to handle than fuel
cells powered by hydrogen gas and can be recharged simply by adding a
cartridge of liquid methanol. Toshiba currently is working on building
laptop computers powered by the technology."

Quoted from -
http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/Supppage4854.html

"In 2001, Prakash and his colleagues
developed a new membrane that is both cheaper and more resistant to
crossover.
With this refinement, the direct methanol fuel cell gives an efficiency

of 35 percent, about twice that of an internal combustion engine, but
well
short of its theoretical efficiency of 97 percent."

Has anyone heard anything more about this? Any information about when
we'll be able to buy a car with this technology?

From what I've seen methanol fuel cells are still only quite small. I'm not sure that the
ones for laptops are even available yet.

Graham


Here are some miscellaneous references. It appears that (prototype) vehicular applications have mostly been with methanol reforming fuel cells (i.e., ones in which hydrogen is extracted from the methanol to power the cell). Small direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) are starting to become commercially available. It appears to me that the main problem with large DMFCs is cost--in particular the cost of the platinum catalyst that is required.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/5016984.stm
http://fuelcellbus.georgetown.edu/
http://fuelcellbus.georgetown.edu/gen3.cfm
http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/news1.html
http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/Supppage5994.html
http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/transportation/fuelcells.html
http://www.daimlerchrysler.com/dccom/0-5-7154-1-174240-1-0-0-174059-0-0-8-7145-0-0-0-0-0-0-1.html
http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/Supppage5386.html
http://www.sriconsulting.com/SRIC/Public/NewsEventsArt/DMFCsNov04.pdf#search=%22direct%20methanol%20fuel%20cell%202006%20%20automobile%20OR%20vehicle%20OR%20car%22
http://www.japancorp.net/Article.Asp?Art_ID=8415
http://www.physorg.com/news1454.html

Bill Ghrist
.

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