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• Raso, MA.
• Navarro, E
• Mora, E
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• Navarro, E
• Mora, E
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• Raso, MA.
• Navarro, E
• Mora, E

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Energies 2013, 6(1), 282-293; doi:10.3390/en6010282

Article

Long Term Performance Study of a Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Fed with Alcohol Blends

Teresa J. Leo ^1,* , Miguel A. Raso ² , Emilio Navarro ³  and Eleuterio Mora ⁴

¹ Departmento de Sistemas Oceánicos y Navales, ETSI Navales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain ² Departmento de Química Física I, Facultad de Ciencias Químicas, Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain ³ Departmento de Motopropulsión y Termofluidodinámica, ETSI Aeronáuticos, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain ⁴ Departmento de Ciencias Aplicadas a la Ingeniería Naval, ETSI Navales, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Madrid 28040, Spain

* Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received: 7 November 2012; in revised form: 17 December 2012 / Accepted: 5 January 2013 / Published: 11 January 2013

Download PDF Full-Text [1062 KB, uploaded 11 January 2013 14:51 CET]

Abstract: The use of alcohol blends in direct alcohol fuel cells may be a more environmentally friendly and less toxic alternative to the use of methanol alone in direct methanol fuel cells. This paper assesses the behaviour of a direct methanol fuel cell fed with aqueous methanol, aqueous ethanol and aqueous methanol/ethanol blends in a long term experimental study followed by modelling of polarization curves. Fuel cell performance is seen to decrease as the ethanol content rises, and subsequent operation with aqueous methanol only partly reverts this loss of performance. It seems that the difference in the oxidation rate of these alcohols may not be the only factor affecting fuel cell performance.

Keywords: direct alcohol fuel cell (DAFC); mixed alcohol fuel; methanol/ethanol blends; DMFC long term experimental study

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