Energy Generation and conservation in Fuel Cell - Essay Example

Energy Generation and conservation in Fuel Cell The basic functioning of the cell is that it transforms the chemical energy stored in it to electrical energy. In the recent century, the fuel cells have been used as an alternative source of energy. It is because the fossil fuels cause some air pollution by emitting carbon dioxide gas which causes global warming. Global warming is a steady rise of the world temperature which causes melting of the north and South Pole regions causing rising of the sea tides. Therefore, fuel cells have a great advantage as compared to other traditional sources of energy for they are more efficient and cause less pollution of the environment. As an alternative source of energy, fuel cells are safer, cleaner and not to mention they are renewable making them more economical and eco-friendly. Fuel cells generate less than 1% of pollution gases compared to other sources of energy. In accordance with (Lee 621), it is indeed a positive move as it has made the environment not to be prone to the greenhouse effects. In addition, it helps reduce the amount of heat released to the universe. Since fuel cells can use human waste to generate methane gas for production of energy, they are helpful in converting waste products into useful sources of energy. Furthermore, it is indeed cleaner for it does not produce waste products when in use. Such waste products have a negative impact on the environment, hence becoming unsafe for the human race and all living things in general. For this reason, Barbir (170 stressed the need of every individual taking part in establishing and developing a habit of ensuring the use of fuel cells. If this practice is adopted, it will have a positive impact on maintaining the ecology waste products that are responsible for the greenhouse effect would be eliminated. Consequently, environmental pollution would be reduced significantly. Due to better efficiency of the fuel cells than the non-renewable sources of energy, combustion of the fossil fuel produces less amount of energy as compared to the fuel cells. In addition, the fact that they can be renewed by reuse of the products makes them quite environmental friendly. As a result, the energy of the ecosystem remains balanced as no waste exits from the cycle. Therefore, it has turned out as the most drastic move in maintaining the environment by ensuring that the energy in it is conserved. The general conclusion is that the fuel cell has changed the human life by ensuring that the rate of environmental pollution is minimal. In addition, the fuel cells emit a reasonable amount of heat, have low levels of chemicals, and it is acoustic. In accordance with (Lee 621), these properties make them more eco-friendly than other sources of energy. The use of fuel cells` energy makes the environment safe since fewer chemicals are emitted during their operation. Since there is no noise emitted during the energy production process, it significantly reduces the chances of sound pollution. Furthermore, their functioning does not interfere with surrounding temperature. The fuel cell energy can be tapped in several ways before. First, they can be produced from biomass. These include the agricultural waste products, wood pulps from the paper manufacturing company and other crop wastes. These products are inserted into an enclosed fume chamber where biological and chemical reactions take place. They are broken down by some microbes, and hydrogen gas is produced. Since hydrogen gas is 14 time lighter than air, it escapes at the top of the fume chamber where it is tapped and stored for use. This tapped gas is more efficient and safe for use since it does not contain a lot of other gases. During the production of hydrogen gas in a fuel cell system, the natural gas is entered into the plant and delivered to the fuel processing subsystem. At this stage, some gases like the sulfur are removed. In addition, a preheating of the mixture (fuel) is done to reach the operating temperature of the cell. The gas is the delivered to the fuel cell where it undergoes the process of electrochemical oxidation to produce electricity or heat. The cell is much efficient with its efficiency ranging from 36 to 60 percent depending on the type of fuel cell in use. In a case where conventional heat equipment is used, a higher efficiency of about 85% can be achieved. The following reactions take place in the cell during energy production. At the anode - an oxidation reaction: 2H2 => 4H++ 4e- At the cathode - a reduction reaction: O2 + 4H+ + 4e- => 2H2O Net reaction - the "redox" reaction: 2H2 + O2 => 2H2O THE DIAGRAM TO BE INSERTED HERE Furthermore, people can make their own Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells so that they produce their own energy or electricity (Ralph 102). This process can be achieved through a series of steps. It begins by filling an electrode that is a polymeric membrane between two platinum-catalyzed porous electrodes. So as to attain this, the temperature must be maintained between 80 – 85 degrees Celsius for activation of the catalyst. Liquid water is used in the process to facilitate sufficient ionic conductivity. Thus, the temperature should remain less than 100 degrees Celsius to avoid evaporation. In addition, the pressure can be raised up to 10 atmospheres. It allows for the higher density of the cell stack. However, maintaining such pressures may be a problem. Lower temperature fuel cells require pure hydrogen for its operations (Ralph 104). Besides its necessity, it is hard to find hence it is obtained from reforming a hydrocarbon fuel like methanol or natural gas. However, the hydrogen obtained through this process contains some other gases like carbon monoxide that are harmful to the system, and they poison the catalyst. Thus, they cause a severe degradation that lowers the performance of the cell. In this case, all the carbon fuel requires processing so that the effect of this carbon monoxide can be reduced. Some challenges that have been experienced in the production of energy using these commercialized fuel cells mainly arise from their effect on the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells. It is due to the susceptibility of such cells to electro catalyst poisoning that originates mainly from low-level carbon monoxide. Usually, the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells are expected to operate using hydrogen or other hydrocarbon products (Ralph 105). These Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells have an electricity efficiency of about 50 percent. However, due to the low temperature of the system, most of the energy is used for the reformation and thus the efficiency is reduced to less than 25 percent (Ralph 106). This outcome depends heavily on the nature of reforming; thus the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells may have the lowest electricity efficiency compared to other fuel cells. Works Cited Lee, Sunggyu, James G. Speight, and Sudarshan K. Loyalka, eds. Handbook of alternative fuel technologies. CRC Press 2014. Barbir, Frano. PEM fuel cells: theory and practice. Academic Press, 2012. Ralph, T.R. “Proton exchange membrane fuel cells.” Platinum metals review 41 (1997): 102 -112. Read More