| | Category | EN | P20 | Engineering a Space-Efficient Design of an Electrolytic Hydrocarbon |
| | Fuel Cell |
| | Abstract | Consumers in a America and elsewhere in the world are coming to a |
| | sobering realization that their habits and lifestyles are not sustainable on |
| | this planet. High-output economies are creating more and more waste on |
| | the planet and eventually, this waste must be disposed of to make room |
| | for new wastes that are produced daily and we are gradually (to state it in |
| | the least maligning way) running out of places to keep this. The same |
| | problem is also appearing with greenhouse gasses and the high-output |
| | fills the atmosphere faster than it can be consumed and converted by |
| | chemo- and photosynthetic creatures. This process is only worsened by |
| | the world's incessant need for wasteful creature comforts like remote car |
| | starters so they won't have to fell the chilled air for a moment or two in the |
| | car, and having the best engine no matter how much it costs the |
| | environment. Producers like Chevy, General Electric, and LG are taking |
| | responsibility and attempting to remedy the problem by using low-emission |
| | and efficient power sources for their products and encouraging |
| | sustainable use patterns. A solution that is expected to integrate well with |
| | the shift is the fuel cell, which is a battery of sorts. |
| | |
| | A fuel cell (particularly an electrochemical cell) converts chemical energy |
| | into electrical energy; it does so through a series of reductions and |
| | oxidations inside some medium, which is called an electrolyte. A wide |
| | variety of electrolytes have been used in different fuel cells, ranging from |
| | molten carbonate ions to solid ceramic membranes and aqueous solutions. |
| | This fuel cell uses an aqueous NaOH solution. The electrolyte is |
| | convenient in the “slower” oxidation of the fuel, yielding more electrons |
| | than a different chemical oxidation (like MnO2). |
| | |
| | This fuel cell is rather compact in design and it would be easy to implement |
| | them in series in order to increase power output. This ability would serve |
| | very useful if it came to power large jets or even communities, since it |
| | would not take a great transformation in design to bring it to this level. The |
| | fuel cell does have a small CO2 output, but the ratio of power output to |
| | CO2 output is far greater than that of gasoline and some other fuel cells. |
| | The greatest obstacle standing in the way of progress for this, is a lack of |
| | sufficient financial resources, since so many of the materials used in the |
| | construction are so expensive. As a reassurance to a consumer or |
| | potential investor, this would not increase commercial pricing by much |
| | since the more expensive materials can be reused almost indefinitely. |
| | |
| | The design could eventually become a commonplace power source and |
| | alternative to coal, natural gas, other fossil fuels, geothermal power, |
| | nuclear energy, solar energy, and even to other fuel cells! |
| | Bibliography | <http://www.utcpower.com/fs/com/bin/fs_com_Page/0,11491,0122,00.ht |
| | ml> |
| | <http://web.mit.edu/afs/athena.mit.edu/org/m/mecheng/fcp/about%20f%20 |
| | cells.html> |
| | <http://www.ika.rwth- |