IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v172y2019icp207-219.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Direct hydrocarbon fuel cells: A promising technology for improving energy efficiency

Author

Listed:
  • Mohammed, Hanin
  • Al-Othman, Amani
  • Nancarrow, Paul
  • Tawalbeh, Muhammad
  • El Haj Assad, Mamdouh

Abstract

The world's first fuel cell described in the early 1800's was fueled with hydrogen. While hydrogen is still the most common fuel, hydrocarbon fuels offer several advantages including availability at a lower cost, higher storage density and existing infrastructure. This paper provides an overview for the significant potential benefits of using hydrocarbon fuels directly in a fuel cell system. Their use leads to a reduction in the capital cost due to the elimination of the fuel processor unit. The fundamentals, advantages, types of direct hydrocarbon fuel cells (DHFC), challenges and applications are discussed in this paper. The past and current status of research and development activities are addressed with emphasis on efficiency and exergy analyses. In spite of their high theoretical energy efficiency, technical challenges remain unsolved in DHFC systems. In high temperature hydrocarbon fueled operation, the deposition of carbon-based material leads to fuel cell degradation. In lower temperature fuel cells, electrode (mainly the anode) over-potentials and fuel crossover are still challenging. Therefore, the improvement and commercialization of these types of fuel cells will probably require the development of less or non-noble catalysts and reasonably functioning membranes.

Suggested Citation

  • Mohammed, Hanin & Al-Othman, Amani & Nancarrow, Paul & Tawalbeh, Muhammad & El Haj Assad, Mamdouh, 2019. "Direct hydrocarbon fuel cells: A promising technology for improving energy efficiency," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 172(C), pages 207-219.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:172:y:2019:i:c:p:207-219
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2019.01.105
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544219301057
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2019.01.105?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chavan, Sudarshan L. & Talange, Dhananjay B., 2017. "Modeling and performance evaluation of PEM fuel cell by controlling its input parameters," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 138(C), pages 437-445.
    2. Lucia, Umberto, 2014. "Overview on fuel cells," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 164-169.
    3. Federico Rossi & Andrea Nicolini, 2012. "Ethanol reforming for supplying molten carbonate fuel cells," International Journal of Low-Carbon Technologies, Oxford University Press, vol. 8(2), pages 140-145, May.
    4. Wang, Junye, 2015. "Barriers of scaling-up fuel cells: Cost, durability and reliability," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 80(C), pages 509-521.
    5. Kirubakaran, A. & Jain, Shailendra & Nema, R.K., 2009. "A review on fuel cell technologies and power electronic interface," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(9), pages 2430-2440, December.
    6. Jiao, Yong & Zhang, Liqin & An, Wenting & Zhou, Wei & Sha, Yujing & Shao, Zongping & Bai, Jianping & Li, Si-Dian, 2016. "Controlled deposition and utilization of carbon on Ni-YSZ anodes of SOFCs operating on dry methane," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 432-443.
    7. Patil, V. & Shastry, V. & Himabindu, M. & Ravikrishna, R.V., 2016. "Life-cycle analysis of energy and greenhouse gas emissions of automotive fuels in India: Part 2 – Well-to-wheels analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 699-712.
    8. Rahgoshay, S.M. & Ranjbar, A.A. & Ramiar, A. & Alizadeh, E., 2017. "Thermal investigation of a PEM fuel cell with cooling flow field," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 134(C), pages 61-73.
    9. Sharaf, Omar Z. & Orhan, Mehmet F., 2014. "An overview of fuel cell technology: Fundamentals and applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 810-853.
    10. Damo, U.M. & Ferrari, M.L. & Turan, A. & Massardo, A.F., 2019. "Solid oxide fuel cell hybrid system: A detailed review of an environmentally clean and efficient source of energy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 168(C), pages 235-246.
    11. Gupta, S. & Patil, V. & Himabindu, M. & Ravikrishna, R.V., 2016. "Life-cycle analysis of energy and greenhouse gas emissions of automotive fuels in India: Part 1 – Tank-to-Wheel analysis," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 684-698.
    12. Stropnik, R. & Sekavčnik, M. & Ferriz, A.M. & Mori, M., 2018. "Reducing environmental impacts of the ups system based on PEM fuel cell with circular economy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PB), pages 824-835.
    13. Andújar, J.M. & Segura, F., 2009. "Fuel cells: History and updating. A walk along two centuries," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 13(9), pages 2309-2322, December.
    14. Daud, W.R.W. & Rosli, R.E. & Majlan, E.H. & Hamid, S.A.A. & Mohamed, R. & Husaini, T., 2017. "PEM fuel cell system control: A review," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 620-638.
    15. Taner, Tolga, 2018. "Energy and exergy analyze of PEM fuel cell: A case study of modeling and simulations," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 284-294.
    16. Antolini, Ermete, 2011. "The stability of molten carbonate fuel cell electrodes: A review of recent improvements," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(12), pages 4274-4293.
    17. Wang, Yun & Chen, Ken S. & Mishler, Jeffrey & Cho, Sung Chan & Adroher, Xavier Cordobes, 2011. "A review of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: Technology, applications, and needs on fundamental research," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 88(4), pages 981-1007, April.
    18. Hou, Qinlong & Zhao, Hongbin & Yang, Xiaoyu, 2018. "Thermodynamic performance study of the integrated MR-SOFC-CCHP system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 434-450.
    19. Tippawan, Phanicha & Arpornwichanop, Amornchai & Dincer, Ibrahim, 2015. "Energy and exergy analyses of an ethanol-fueled solid oxide fuel cell for a trigeneration system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 87(C), pages 228-239.
    20. Zhu, Li & Chen, Junghui, 2018. "Prognostics of PEM fuel cells based on Gaussian process state space models," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 149(C), pages 63-73.
    21. Fathabadi, Hassan, 2018. "Novel fuel cell/battery/supercapacitor hybrid power source for fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 467-477.
    22. Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali & Allagui, Anis & Sayed, Enas Taha & El Haj Assad, M. & Said, Zafar & Elsaid, Khaled, 2019. "Comparative analysis of liquid versus vapor-feed passive direct methanol fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 131(C), pages 563-584.
    23. Oliveira, V.B. & Pereira, J.P. & Pinto, A.M.F.R., 2017. "Modeling of passive direct ethanol fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 652-665.
    24. Badwal, S.P.S. & Giddey, S. & Kulkarni, A. & Goel, J. & Basu, S., 2015. "Direct ethanol fuel cells for transport and stationary applications – A comprehensive review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 80-103.
    25. Chen, Xiaohang & Wang, Yuan & Zhao, Yingru & Zhou, Yinghui, 2016. "A study of double functions and load matching of a phosphoric acid fuel cell/heat-driven refrigerator hybrid system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 101(C), pages 359-365.
    26. Seungdoo Park & John M. Vohs & Raymond J. Gorte, 2000. "Direct oxidation of hydrocarbons in a solid-oxide fuel cell," Nature, Nature, vol. 404(6775), pages 265-267, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Prapainainar, Paweena & Du, Zehui & Theampetch, Apichaya & Prapainainar, Chaiwat & Kongkachuichay, Paisan & Holmes, Stuart M., 2020. "Properties and DMFC performance of nafion/mordenite composite membrane fabricated by solution-casting method with different solvent ratio," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    2. Bahram Ghorbani, 2021. "Development of an Integrated Structure for the Tri-Generation of Power, Liquid Carbon Dioxide, and Medium Pressure Steam Using a Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell, a Dual Pressure Linde-Hampson Liquefaction ," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-21, July.
    3. Chi, Yuanying & Xu, Weiyue & Xiao, Meng & Wang, Zhengzao & Zhang, Xufeng & Chen, Yahui, 2023. "Fuel-cycle based environmental and economic assessment of hydrogen fuel cell vehicles in China," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    4. Balali, Yasaman & Stegen, Sascha, 2021. "Review of energy storage systems for vehicles based on technology, environmental impacts, and costs," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 135(C).
    5. Fan Liu & Chuancheng Duan, 2021. "Direct-Hydrocarbon Proton-Conducting Solid Oxide Fuel Cells," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-9, April.
    6. Mohammad Al-Smairan & Moayyad Shawaqfah & Fares AlMomani, 2020. "Techno-Economic Investigation of an Integrated Boiler–Solar Water Heating/Cooling System: A Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(1), pages 1-18, December.
    7. Soudan, Bassel & Darya, Abdollah, 2020. "Autonomous smart switching control for off-grid hybrid PV/battery/diesel power system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 211(C).
    8. Alkasrawi, Malek & Al-Othman, Amani & Tawalbeh, Muhammad & Doncan, Shona & Gurram, Raghu & Singsaas, Eric & Almomani, Fares & Al-Asheh, Sameer, 2021. "A novel technique of paper mill sludge conversion to bioethanol toward sustainable energy production: Effect of fiber recovery on the saccharification hydrolysis and fermentation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 223(C).
    9. Maria H. de Sá & Alexandra M. F. R. Pinto & Vânia B. Oliveira, 2022. "Passive Small Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells for Low-Power Portable Applications: Assessment Based on Innovative Increments since 2018," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-48, May.
    10. Tawalbeh, Muhammad & Murtaza, Sana Z.M. & Al-Othman, Amani & Alami, Abdul Hai & Singh, Karnail & Olabi, Abdul Ghani, 2022. "Ammonia: A versatile candidate for the use in energy storage systems," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 955-977.
    11. Nauman Javed, Rana Muhammad & Al-Othman, Amani & Tawalbeh, Muhammad & Olabi, Abdul Ghani, 2022. "Recent developments in graphene and graphene oxide materials for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    12. Ong, Samuel & Al-Othman, Amani & Tawalbeh, Muhammad, 2023. "Emerging technologies in prognostics for fuel cells including direct hydrocarbon fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 277(C).
    13. Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali & Sayed, Enas Taha & Nakagawa, Nobuyoshi, 2020. "Significance of diffusion layers on the performance of liquid and vapor feed passive direct methanol fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    14. Wu, Zhen & Zhu, Pengfei & Yao, Jing & Tan, Peng & Xu, Haoran & Chen, Bin & Yang, Fusheng & Zhang, Zaoxiao & Ni, Meng, 2020. "Thermo-economic modeling and analysis of an NG-fueled SOFC-WGS-TSA-PEMFC hybrid energy conversion system for stationary electricity power generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 192(C).
    15. Aiman Albatayneh & Adel Juaidi & Mustafa Jaradat & Francisco Manzano-Agugliaro, 2023. "Future of Electric and Hydrogen Cars and Trucks: An Overview," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(7), pages 1-16, April.
    16. Eisa, Tasnim & Park, Sung-Gwan & Mohamed, Hend Omar & Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali & Lee, Jieun & Yang, Euntae & Castaño, Pedro & Chae, Kyu-Jung, 2021. "Outstanding performance of direct urea/hydrogen peroxide fuel cell based on precious metal-free catalyst electrodes," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 228(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mohamad Fairus Rabuni & Tao Li & Mohd Hafiz Dzarfan Othman & Faidzul Hakim Adnan & Kang Li, 2023. "Progress in Solid Oxide Fuel Cells with Hydrocarbon Fuels," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-36, September.
    2. Çalışır, Duran & Ekici, Selcuk & Midilli, Adnan & Karakoc, T. Hikmet, 2023. "Benchmarking environmental impacts of power groups used in a designed UAV: Hybrid hydrogen fuel cell system versus lithium-polymer battery drive system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PB).
    3. Wang, Junye, 2015. "Theory and practice of flow field designs for fuel cell scaling-up: A critical review," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 157(C), pages 640-663.
    4. Olabi, A.G. & Wilberforce, Tabbi & Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali, 2021. "Fuel cell application in the automotive industry and future perspective," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    5. Zhao, Jian & Ozden, Adnan & Shahgaldi, Samaneh & Alaefour, Ibrahim E. & Li, Xianguo & Hamdullahpur, Feridun, 2018. "Effect of Pt loading and catalyst type on the pore structure of porous electrodes in polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 69-76.
    6. Das, Vipin & Padmanaban, Sanjeevikumar & Venkitusamy, Karthikeyan & Selvamuthukumaran, Rajasekar & Blaabjerg, Frede & Siano, Pierluigi, 2017. "Recent advances and challenges of fuel cell based power system architectures and control – A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 10-18.
    7. El-Hay, Enas A. & El-Hameed, Mohamed A. & El-Fergany, Attia A., 2018. "Performance enhancement of autonomous system comprising proton exchange membrane fuel cells and switched reluctance motor," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 699-711.
    8. Viorel Ionescu & Adriana Elena Balan & Alexandra Maria Isabel Trefilov & Ioan Stamatin, 2021. "Exergetic Performance of a PEM Fuel Cell with Laser-Induced Graphene as the Microporous Layer," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, September.
    9. Nauman Javed, Rana Muhammad & Al-Othman, Amani & Tawalbeh, Muhammad & Olabi, Abdul Ghani, 2022. "Recent developments in graphene and graphene oxide materials for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells applications," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    10. Alipour Moghaddam, Jafar & Parnian, Mohammad Javad & Rowshanzamir, Soosan, 2018. "Preparation, characterization, and electrochemical properties investigation of recycled proton exchange membrane for fuel cell applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 699-709.
    11. Sánchez-Monreal, Juan & García-Salaberri, Pablo A. & Vera, Marcos, 2019. "A mathematical model for direct ethanol fuel cells based on detailed ethanol electro-oxidation kinetics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    12. Peng, Fei & Zhao, Yuanzhe & Chen, Ting & Zhang, Xuexia & Chen, Weirong & Zhou, Donghua & Li, Qi, 2018. "Development of robust suboptimal real-time power sharing strategy for modern fuel cell based hybrid tramways considering operational uncertainties and performance degradation," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 226(C), pages 503-521.
    13. Fernandes, Marina Domingues & Bistritzki, Victor & Domingues, Rosana Zacarias & Matencio, Tulio & Rapini, Márcia & Sinisterra, Rubén Dario, 2020. "Solid oxide fuel cell technology paths: National innovation system contributions from Japan and the United States," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 127(C).
    14. Liu, Hao & Chen, Jian & Hissel, Daniel & Lu, Jianguo & Hou, Ming & Shao, Zhigang, 2020. "Prognostics methods and degradation indexes of proton exchange membrane fuel cells: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 123(C).
    15. Das, Himadry Shekhar & Tan, Chee Wei & Yatim, A.H.M., 2017. "Fuel cell hybrid electric vehicles: A review on power conditioning units and topologies," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 268-291.
    16. Bizon, Nicu, 2019. "Efficient fuel economy strategies for the Fuel Cell Hybrid Power Systems under variable renewable/load power profile," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    17. Lin, Jui-Yen & Shih, Yu-Jen & Chen, Po-Yen & Huang, Yao-Hui, 2016. "Precipitation recovery of boron from aqueous solution by chemical oxo-precipitation at room temperature," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 164(C), pages 1052-1058.
    18. Hosseini, Mir Ghasem & Mahmoodi, Raana & Daneshvari-Esfahlan, Vahid, 2018. "Ni@Pd core-shell nanostructure supported on multi-walled carbon nanotubes as efficient anode nanocatalysts for direct methanol fuel cells with membrane electrode assembly prepared by catalyst coated m," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 161(C), pages 1074-1084.
    19. Bao, Zhiming & Niu, Zhiqiang & Jiao, Kui, 2020. "Gas distribution and droplet removal of metal foam flow field for proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 280(C).
    20. Xing, Lei & Du, Shangfeng & Chen, Rui & Mamlouk, Mohamed & Scott, Keith, 2016. "Anode partial flooding modelling of proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Model development and validation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 80-95.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:172:y:2019:i:c:p:207-219. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.