Hydrogen Economy, Really? | Green Energy News

January 18, 2004 – Vol.8 No.43

HYDROGEN ECONOMY, REALLY?

Is it really that important to pursue a hydrogen economy? Isn’t the real goal to find a zero or extremely low emission replacement for fossil fuels that would be considered renewable? What if there are other, better, choices than hydrogen that could be commercialized sooner and at less cost, that would keep the idea of low-emission fuel cells intact?

Energy Visions of Toronto, Ontario has announced that it has commenced development of a prototype direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) that seems to be different than other DMFC designs. EVI claims it has created a flowing electrolyte direct methanol fuel cell (FE-DMFC)

According to the company, other DMFC fuel cells suffer from what is known as methanol crossover. Within a cell liquid methanol has a tendency to leak from one layer of cell to another, reducing its efficiency. The problem becomes more troublesome as the size of the fuel cell increases.

EVI claims that adding an additional layer in each cell - one that electrolyte could flow though - eliminates the crossover problem.

The company also says (as others have said) that a methanol infrastructure would be far easier and cheaper to build than a hydrogen one, and that its design (if proven) would work well in stop, start, intermittent use, using less expensive cell materials, and will operate at 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees F). Methanol, of course, can be made from natural gas or renewable bio-resources.

The company received a grant of CAD $160,000 (US $122,000) from the national Research Council Canada to partially support the project. Visit EVI at http://www.energyvi.com/