Fuel Cell Technology: A Comparative Evaluation for Applications in Building in Saudi Arabia - Literature review Example

? Fuel technology in Saudi Arabia Fuel technology in Saudi Arabia A fuel cell can be described as the basis from which alternative electricity is generated. As such, this electricity comes from the chemical reaction that occurs inside those fuel cells. Each and every fuel cell has anode, which is positively charged, and cathode, that is, the negatively charged electrode (Alawaji 2001). Te chemical reaction that generates electricity occurs at these nodes. The charge from one electrode to another is carried by electrolytes, which lie within the fuel cell. These cells use the energy resulting from the chemical reaction involving hydrogen and as such, they efficiently and cleanly produce electricity (Matt, 2009). Moreover, the reaction gives water as well as heat as the reaction’s byproducts. Critically fuel cells are today regarded as effectively enabling technology in regard to the global portfolio concerning the energy solutions, which are efficient (Magdy and El-Samanoudy, 2005). As such, they have proved that they entail a potential whereby they can improve the contemporary se of energy resources in a drastic way. The technology associated with the fuel cells is capable of replacing the internal combustion in the engine of a vehicle. In addition to this, this kind of a technology has the potential to provide power to applications that are stationary as well as those which are portable, and which use power. In Saudi Arabia, this has grown to be the case since this kind of technology is not only energy efficient but also entail fuel flexibility and is clean (Matt, 2009). In Saudi Arabia, fuel cells are being developed for various purposes. For instance, the electricity produced is being used to power vehicles, especially the passenger vehicles, buildings used for commercial purposes as well as small devices that use power in order to function. These include mobile phones, ipads, tablets as well as laptops (Alawaji 2005). The aim of this paper is to comparatively access the efficiency of fuel cell technology as applied various projects in Saudi Arabia (Matt, 2009). Fuel cells, as used in Saudi Arabia, generate a large amount of heat, more than required. This excess heat is tapped and thereby released into a building’s heating, ventilation as well as in air conditioning systems. This follows that space heating in regard to a building is provided. Other facilities in Saudi Arabia use the energy from fuel cells for ht water as well as other useful needs within the society and which need to be addressed (Matt, 2009). Major manufacturers within Saudi Arabia are working such that they intend to commercialize fuel vehicles. Today, buses, trains, cars as well as boats are being powered by cells. Health facilities, police stations, banks as well as call centers in Saudi Arabia are gradually doing away with the traditional sources of power and have began adopting the fuel cell energy (Blomen and Mugerwa, 2003). This kind of technology is also seemingly convenient with regard to the plants associated with waste water treatment. Indeed, the borough council in Saudi Arabia has adopted the fuel cell technology and as such, they have had approximately 240kWe fuel cell energy which has been connected to the heating scheme of the Borough community. The consequence of this development has been positively attributed to the provision of valuable monitoring. The fuel cells which are stationary that is, the wind and solar are essential and critical constituents of Saudi Arabia’s roadmap towards autonomous energy. The are quite a number of fuel cell power plants distributed within Saudi Arabia and which have proved as ideal as they provide heat as well as electricity to industries and households at rated outputs continuously. Since these fuel cell plants can run round the clock without stopping, they are usually suited or buildings and facilities which hosts industries, institutions as well as businesses (Blomen and Mugerwa, 2003). This is because; these kinds of facilities usually require non-stop electricity as well as thermal energy, whether day or night. This technology has therefore been effective in Saudi Arabia as compared to other forms of energy producing ways. Comparing fuel cell energy the wind turbines as well as solar panels provides energy in an intermittent way. As such, energy from solar panels and wind turbines is only effective whenever there is adequate sunlight and sufficient and strong winds respectively (Magdy and El-Samanoudy, 2005). As a result, the energy produced is usually suited for application in which the underlying utility grid has the capability of making up for shortfalls in an effort towards fulfillment of the Saudi Arabia’s power requirements. Fuel cells have an added advantage over the solar panel and wind turbine energy since it has the ability to continuously supply process heat and thus efficiently satisfying the thermal load of a facility (Blomen and Mugerwa, 2003). In addition to this, solar as well as wind energy are inferior as compared to fuel cell energy because the fuel cells offer power densities, which is a thousand times more. Furthermore, the provision of the sitting flexibility is absent in solar and wind energies. As such, fuel cell in Saudi Arabia is usually efficient in providing this kind of flexibility as it is seen in installations in buildings, that is, within the building, outside the building, in the basement and on the rooftops (Blomen and Mugerwa, 2003). According to Blomen and Mugerwa (2003), fuel cell system in Saudi Arabia is a promising technology in regard o the stationary power as well as CHP applications. He further asserts that fuel cells have been successfully developed to suit generators, which provide stationary power on a large-scale basis. With fuel cells technology incorporated in these generators, Saudi Arabia has not had any problem in providing power to the entire processing industry as well as to towns across the country (Martin and Bakhsh, 2005). Most manufacturing factories in Saudi Arabia usually work with high temperatures, usually in a region of 1000o and as such, steam is produced. The steam is then fed into turbines within the industries and thereby generating more electricity. Therefore, fuel cell energy is efficient is tapping more natural electricity and as such, it helps in adding to the existing energy. The solid polymer fuel cells commonly referred to as SPFCs have been proven to be efficient in Saudi Arabia in reference to the automobile industry and stationary applications. Globally, the developed countries such as the U.S have increasingly called for development of commercial systems. That is the reason why Saudi Arabia has taken an initiative and adopted the solid polymer fuel cells in applications that are used for commercial purposes. These applications include scars, buses as well as distributed powers (Martin and Bakhsh, 2005). It is common with other economies across the worlds which have a great deal of industrial developments, putting more focus on creation of jobs rather than pollution. Saudi Arabia has emerged as one country that seemingly becomes concerned with the reduction of pollution as well as energy saving by promoting the use of fuel cell technology (Shaahid and Elhadidy, 2004). According to many researchers, Saudi Arabia has been successful in using fuel technology whereby; several projects have been effectively begun using the energy from fuel cells (Larminie and Dicks, 2003). However, the major infrastructures, which will eventually use the fuel energy, are still being processed. The fuel cell technology has therefore been adopted for a limited number of applications which includes; fuel cell toy cars, mobile phones, laptops, vehicles as well as house hold appliances such as electronics (Martin and Bakhsh, 2005). According to recent research studies, Saudi Arabia, as compared to any other country in the world, is among the leading producers of energy. Similarly, other researches have found out that it is among the largest consumers of energy across the world. The people who live within the country are developing wealth in an alarming rate due to presence of the fuel resources and due to this; the demand for cheap energy has increased (Alathel 2006). In addition to this, the creation of massive wealth among the population has also led to an increased demand for cheap public as well as private transport. The number of motor vehicles in Saudi Arabia is massive and due to increasing wealth, the number of motor vehicles is still growing and as such, smog is created in the Saudi Arabian Cities (Al-Sulaiman and Jamjoum, 2002). This kind of pollution is usually referred to as the worst that can happen in the world. To alleviate this, the Saudi Arabian government saw it necessary to develop fuel cell energy. According to Blomen and Mugerwa (2003), transportation industry in Saudi Arabia is the most ideal sector where fuel cell technology has effectively been utilized. Manufacturers have increasingly replaced the traditional batteries used in commercial buses as well as electric bicycles. According to Martin and Bakhsh (2005), 74 percent of the fuel cells applications in Saudi Arabia put an exclusive focus on the transport industry. The researcher further asserts that sixty four percent of the Saudi Arabian fuel cell technology has it basis on the Proton Exchange Fuel Cell, which is regarded as the most commonly known fuel cell technology putting worldwide transportation application into consideration. Indeed, the technology has proved to be effective in efforts to completely eliminating pollution from the transport industry. Blomen and Mugerwa (2003) support this in his research as he asserts that today; the commercial transport industry accounts only 5 percent of the total pollution in the whole country. With regard to the private investment in the transport industry, Saudi Arabia has not had so much of it. Up to 2008, it is said that the privately owned Saudi Arabian companies have come into a consensus to incorporate fuel cell technology in private cars (Huraib, Hasnain and Alawaji, 2006). However, fuel cell technology effectiveness in the commercial transport industry in Saudi Arabia is threatened by some hurdles. As such, researchers are increasingly conducting researches to establish ways to overcome them. Such issues include the costs associated with fuel cells. The costs attributable to the technology are usually high and it requires a huge outlay of resources to facilitate the fuel technology application in transport industry. Another issue is that the application of fuel cells in transportation is still a fragile notion (Huraib, Hasnain and Alawaji, 2006). Moreover, there is always a difficulty entailed when hydrogen is being distributed. There are several reasons for this but the most acceptable of them all is that hydrogen is a gas and as such, the energy contained in it is very little with regard to the volume (Al-Sulaiman and Jamjoum, 2002). Therefore, it necessitates the gas has to undergo a liquefying process, or the gas to be stored in under high levels of pressure in order for it to produce a considerable amounts of energy. All these issues tend to bring the fuel technology application in transportation into a halt in Saudi Arabia but due to the essential researches as well as the governmental support, the technology is regaining effectiveness (Martin and Bakhsh, 2005). Engines and fuelling stations The fuel cell technology has been ideal in Saudi Arabia since there has been development of prototypes related to the fuel cell engines. In addition to this, fuel cell technology has been utilized and as such, there has been establishment of filling stations (Martin, 2005). The traditional engines, in order for them to work effectively, had to go through an internal combustion and as a result, there was an emission of smoke that was harmful to the living things in the environment. In Saudi Arabia, these engines are no longer there, and if any, they are found rarely. As such, they have been replaced by the fuel cell engines, which are very effective as they do not emit smoke and as such, no living thing is harmed (Martin and Bakhsh, 2005). Portable Electronic appliances Fuel technology has also been efficient in Saudi Arabia in portable electronic appliances. As such, apart from the country’s major power production, fuel cells energy has come to replace the batteries that were being used to power small electronic products. These includes; mobile handsets, digital as well as camcorders. In Saudi Arabia, fuel cell energy has been adopted and as such, it has been successfully used in powering satellites used for the purposes of telecommunication (Huraib, Hasnain and Alawaji, 2006). The most appealing aspect in this notion is that these fuel cell powered satellites eliminated or augmented the solar panels that were being used before. In biological applications in biological applications, fuel cell technology is used. In regard to this, the minute cell fuels are usually effective as they are used and thereby safely producing power necessary for the biological applications, which includes hearing aids as well as peacemakers (Huraib, Hasnain and Alawaji, 2006). As compared to the transportation applications, where fuel cells are seemingly in a competition with the engine’s internal combustion in order to produce a mechanical output in an indirectly, portable electronic appliances and equipments fuel cells compete with batteries in an effort towards producing an electrical output (Martin and Bakhsh, 2005). Therefore, in Saudi Arabia, the fuel cells are becomingly increasingly efficient as they tend to offer not only good but also viable alternatives in regard to batteries. As such, ion regard to this application, low power fuel cells are being developed by the engineers (William and Key, 2007). Combined heat and power systems Primarily, the stationary application in regard to the technology associated to fuel cells is said to be for the combined generation of energy or power as well as heat for such things as; standby generators, buildings as well as for industrial facilities (Huraib 2009). According to a plethora of researches, it has been found that the fuel cell power systems efficiency is not affected by size and as such, the development of the initial plant usually focus on low energy. Primarily, Arabia, the plants are usually fueled by natural gas in Saudi Arabia (Al-Sulaiman and Jamjoum, 2002). The capacity of the fuel cell installed in Saudi Arabia is still not yet widely and comprehensively established. This is because; the true commercial products that can be considered competitive have not yet been availed, not only in Saudi Arabia but also in the whole world (Khogali, Albar and Yousif, 2011). However, there has been a significant demand for the features entailed in fuel cells, which are of high efficiency and which encompass relatively low emission. SPFCS and SOFCs in the Asian countries, especially Saudi Arabia have recently been accessed and according to the findings of the reports, it has come to be that he markets are becoming opened up and since 2007, the fuel business value has significantly risen. Indeed, the capacity of the fuel cell power generation has shot up such that it has hit a 10 GW from 2 GW in 2004 (Khogali, Albar and Yousif, 2011). The fuel cell technology adopted in the world’s building applications can be aid to be minimal with Saudi Arabia taking the better part of it. People in this country have identified the benefits of using the technology. According to a research conducted by PPP, the people in this region prefer the use applications that support the use of fuel cell power and would swap traditional devices to fuel cells devices (Martin, 2005). From this analysis, it is evident that fuel cells technology has lead to massive development in the world especially in Saudi Arabia. Fuel cells are used to generate energy as well as heat through hydrogen reaction. The technology is not yet widely established but it is dominant in Saudi Arabia. Fuel cell energy is used in different applications such as in the automobiles, especially the commercialized ones, whereby it ids used for powering purposes. Precisely, it is applied in passenger service buses since they are known to majorly pollute the environment due to the internal combustion in the engine (Khogali, Albar and Yousif, 2011). Fuel cells have effectively replaced this and as such, the transport industry in Saudi Arabia is no longer contributing to air pollution. In addition to this, fuel energy is also applied in buildings used for commercial purposes. As such, fuel cells produce continuous electricity and as such the technology is ideal for facilities that require continuous power (William and Key, 2007). The heat produced by the energy from in factories is used to produce more electricity and therefore increasing the amount of reserved power. Fuel cell technology is also used in small devices such as mobile phones, ipads, tablets as well as laptops. These devices use miniature fuel cells and as such, these devices no longer use batteries to power them. In general, fuel cell technology has been effectively used in Saudi Arabia and as such, as compared to other forms of energy producers; this one is promising and has a great potentiality (William and Key, 2007). References Alathel, S.A., 2006. Fuel Cell Technology in the Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia. International Journal of Global Energy Issues, 2(5). Pp.23-25. Alawaji, S.H., 2001. Lessons Learned From Fuel Cell Technology In Saudi Arabia. Renewable and Sustainable, 9(4), pp.1144-1147. Alawaji, S.H., 2005. Renewable Energy Research Programs at KACST in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. 1(1), pp.2-14. Al-Sulaiman, F.A., and Jamjoum, F.A., 2002. Applications of Fuel Energy on East Coast Of Saudi Arabia. Renewable Energy, 2(1), pp.47-55. Blomen, L., and Mugerwa, M., 2003. Fuel Cells Systems. John Wiley and Sons: Springer. Huraib, F.S., 2009. Fuel Cells Energy Applications in Saudi Arabia. New York: John Wiley and Sons. Huraib, S.H., Hasnain, S.M., and Alawaji, S.H., 2006. Evaluation of Fuel Cell Energy and Its Application in Saudi Arabia-5 Years Experience. Renewable and sustainable, 5(1), pp.59-77. Khogali, A., Albar, O.F., and Yousif, B., 2011. Fuel Cell Potential in Makkah (Saudi Arabia)-Comparison with Red Sea Coastal Sites, Renewable Energy, 1(4), pp.434-440 Larminie, J., and Dicks, A., 2003. Fuel Cells Systems Explained. Oklahoma: Springer. Magdy, L.A., and El-Samanoudy, M.A., 2005. Feasibility and Study of Fuel Cells Energy Utilization in Saudi Arabia. Journal of Fuel Cell Technology and Industrial Aerodynamics, 18(2). Pp.153-163. Martin, P., 2005. Fuel Cells Power Potential of Saudi Arabia. Fuel Cell Technology, 2(4), pp.139-142. Martin, P., and Bakhsh, H., 2005. Fuel Cells Power Characteristics of the Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, 2(4), pp. 20-203 Matt, D., 2009. Towards a Lighted Future. Pearson: Prentice Hall. Shaahid, S.M., and Elhadidy, M.A., 2004. Fuel Cell Energy at Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, Renewable Energy, 1(4). Pp. 435-440. William, J.S., and Key, W.P., 2007. Executive Summary, SOLERAS Program Overview. Boulevard: Midwest Research Institute. Read More