Introduction

Hydrogen fuel cell electric generator characteristics

Method of application

Performance of hydrogen fuel cell electric generator

Discussion of results

Conclusion

References

Abstract

We analyze the feasibility of a novel, hydrogen fuel cell electric generator to provide power with zero noise and emissions for myriad ground based applications. The hydrogen fuel cell electric generator utilizes a novel, scalable apparatus that safely generates hydrogen (H2) on demand according to a novel method, using a controlled chemical reaction between water (H2O) and sodium (Na) metal that yields hydrogen gas of sufficient purity for direct use in fuel cells without risk of contaminating sensitive catalysts. The sodium hydroxide (NaOH) byproduct of the hydrogen producing reaction, is collected within the apparatus for later reprocessing by electrolysis, to recover the Na reactant. The detailed analysis shows that the novel, hydrogen fuel cell electric generator will be capable of meeting the clean power requirements for residential and commercial buildings including single family homes and light commercial establishments under a wide range of geographic and climatic conditions.

Introduction

There is a need in the modern world to provide sustainable means of producing clean energy economically, on a monumental scale. The world’s population is inexorably increasing toward the 10 billion mark and carbon based fossil fuel consumption has increased accordingly, leading to unacceptable levels of air pollution in the major conurbations of both advanced and developing countries [1e4]. Although much of the pollution arises from burning carbon based fossil fuels inside internal combustion engines (ICEs) of motor vehicles and ships, a significant contribution is also made by coal burning thermal power plants used for electricity generation [5,6]. Hydrogen (H2) which is stored in near limitless quantity in sea water is the only alternative fuel that is more abundant and environmentally cleaner with the potential of having a lower cost than nonrenewable carbon based fossil fuels, assuming that engineering challenges related to safe implementation and economical extraction of the hydrogen are overcome. Research on hydrogen storage and generator systems based on water (H2O) remains active. Extensive work has been reported in the scientific literature using sodium borohydride (NaBH4) dissolved in water (H2O) to form an aqueous solution, as a means of storing hydrogen, with its subsequent catalytic decomposition via hydrolysis to generate hydrogen (H2) on demand and sodium borate (NaBO2) byproduct [7e12]. The metal lithium (Li) and its hydrides, namely, lithium hydride (LiH) and lithium borohydride (LiBH4) have been the focus of considerable research for their reactions with water (H2O) for hydrogen generation [13e15].