A real-time simulating non-isothermal mathematical model for the passive feed direct methanol fuel cell

In order to understand the complex transport phenomena in a passive direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC), a theoretical model is essential. The analytical model provides a computationally efficient framework with a clear physical meaning. For this, a non-isothermal, analytical model for the passive DMFC has been developed in this study. The model considers the coupled heat and mass transport along with electrochemical reactions. The model is successfully validated with the experimental data. The model accurately describes the various species transport phenomena including methanol crossover and water crossover, heat transport phenomena, and efficiencies related to the passive DMFC. It suggests that the maximum real efficiency can be achieved by running the cell at low methanol feed concentration and moderate current density. The model also accurately predicts the effect of various operating and geometrical parameters on the cell performance such as methanol feed concentration, surrounding temperature, and polymer electrolyte membrane thickness. The model predictions are in accordance with the findings of the other researchers. The model is rapidly implementable and can be used in real-time simulation and control of the passive DMFC. This comprehensive model can be used for diagnostic purpose as well.     

Direct methanol fuel cell bubble removal mechanism using magnetic actuation

This article develops a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) with a magnet-actuated bubble removal mechanism. A micro-DC motor is used to control the bubble removal mechanism. The lower magnetic device is operated to extrude a Polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) runner to compress the liquid fuel in the anode flow channel, forcing the CO₂ bubbles in the runner to flow toward the outlet end. The bubble retention in the anode flow channel is thereby improved, enhancing the cell performance. The proposed mechanism stability and performance and Polymethylmethacrylate (PMMA) runner are also discussed.     

Developing a passive air-breathing tubular direct methanol fuel cell fed with concentrated methanol

This study develops and investigates a fully passive air-breathing tubular direct methanol fuel cell (t-DMFC) with a steel-tube anode and a steel-mesh cathode. The effects of methanol concentration, cathode catalyst loading, mesh structure, and forced air convection are experimentally explored. Results indicate that the t-DMFC performs better at a relatively higher methanol concentration of 8 M. It is recommended to use a catalyst loading of 4 mg cm^?2. Both the electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) and performance tests confirm that the 40-mesh setup is preferred at the cathode. The fuel cell yields a poor performance when the cathode works with forced air convection because the air-blowing operation reduces the cell temperature and this effect dominates the cell performance. The dynamic and constant-load behaviors are also inspected.     

Impact of nonuniform reactant flow rate on the performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell stacks

ABSTRACT

In this study, a proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack composed of five cells in series is numerically investigated to study the impact of the nonuniform reactant flow rate on the performance of the stack. A comparison of the water concentration, temperature, reaction heat source, and current density of change rule of two groups of fuel cell stacks with uniform and nonuniform reactant flow rate reveals the performance degradation mechanism caused by nonuniform reactant flow. The results indicate that while operating under low-voltage conditions, the nonuniform reactant flow rate will cause the accumulation of excess liquid water near the PEM that is near the cathode exhaust outlet, and the local area reacts strongly on the catalyst, whereas the local area reacts slowly. When the average voltage of the stack is 0.55 V, the current density under the nonuniform reactant flow rate condition is 12.9% lower than that of the uniform reactant flow rate condition. In the case of uniform and nonuniform reactant flow rate at low current densities, the performance difference is not evident, but it is expected to be pronounced with the increase in current density. The simulation results are compared with the experimental data reported in the literature through a polarization curve, and they turn out to be well correlated with the experimental results.     

Generation Performance of Gas-Feed Direct Methanol Fuel Cell

Abstract

The modification effect of Nafion on the generation performance at different temperatures and methanol concentrations was investigated. The direct methanol fuel cell performances and electrochemical properties of the DMFC system using as-received Nafion117, a modified Nafion membrane, and using the Nafion117 MEA preparation by spray treatment on the surface of each catalyst layer for conductivity improvement. The open circuit voltage using the modified Nafion membrane was higher than that using Nafion117 at the cell temperature of 343–383 K and methanol concentration of 1.5–10 kmol/m³. The spray treatment of MEA was effective and improved the short circuit current up to 461 mA/cm² at a 5 kmol/m³ methanol concentration in comparison with no treatment of MEA because of the low interfacial resistance. The power density of 75 mW/cm² (no treatment Nafion117 MEA:40 mW/cm²) was obtained. The method of the spray treatment was found to be very effective for the DMFC system. The cell performance of Nafion117 MEA increased with the methanol concentration because of the reduction of the concentration overvoltage.     

Shift to continuous operation of an air-cathode microbial fuel cell long-running in fed-batch mode boosts power generation

Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) which are operated in continuous mode are more suitable for practical applications than fed batch ones. The aim of the present study was to characterize an air-cathode MFC operating in continuous mode and to determine the intrinsic properties for suitable performance and scalability. Air-cathode MFCs were constructed from plexiglass with a total working volume of 220 mL. Zirfon® separator used in this MFC had cross section area of 100 cm². The air cathode MFCs were operated in fed-batch mode and then shifted to the continuous mode. To determine the behavior of anode and cathode in long term operation (274 days), their contribution in MFC performance was evaluated over time. Once the active biofilm was formed, power production and substrate consumption rate were significantly higher. The internal resistance increased with the passage of time. After stabilization of biofilm when the MFC was placed in close circuit by connecting an external resistance, the anode-reference and cathode-reference electrode behavior showed that anode potential is near to the bacterial cell inside potential. The maximum open circuit voltage achieved was 623 mV and the highest power and volumetric power density were 38.03 mW/m² and 1296 mW/m³, respectively.     

Formaldehyde degradation in the presence of methanol by photo-Fenton process

In this study, the photo-Fenton process for the degradation of formaldehyde was investigated in lab-scale experiments. Results showed that methanol, the additive chemical in a commercial product of formaldehyde, was also decomposed during the formaldehyde oxidation reaction. The oxidation reaction was in three-stages. The first stage was the Fe(2+)/H(2)O(2) reaction in which both formaldehyde and methanol were swiftly decomposed. The second and the third stages exerted a somewhat less rapid degradation of both chemicals. The first stage of the oxidation reaction can be discussed by means of the initial average rate and the third stage or Fe(3+)/H(2)O(2) stage was found to follow the first order reaction rate. The reaction was influenced by the initial pH, the concentration of hydrogen peroxide, the amount of ferrous ions. The initial pH at 2.6 provided the highest removal efficiencies in this system. In addition, the competition between formaldehyde and methanol was investigated and described as r(m)/r(f), where r(m) and r(f) were the initial rates of methanol and formaldehyde, respectively. The addition of methanol exhibited a competitive effect on formaldehyde degradation. The removal of formaldehyde decreased with increasing methanol concentration. At the high concentrations of methanol, the oxidation reaction of formaldehyde was repressed. It appears that all values of r(m)/r(f) obtained from the experiments are lower than the theoretical values.     

Investigation of the effects of battery types and power management algorithms on drive cycle simulation for a range-extended electric vehicle powertrain

Fuel cell (FC) hybrid vehicle power trains are an attractive technology especially for automotive applications because of their higher efficiency and lower emissions compared to conventional vehicles. This study focuses on the design of an FC hybrid power train system and evaluation of its simulations for a given speed profile through two alternative power management algorithms (PMAs). Parameters suitable for a small vehicle were taken into consideration in the mathematical model of the vehicle. The proposed hybrid power train consists of an energy storage system, composed of a 4-kg battery pack (either lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery, nickel metal hydride, or nickel–cadmium) and a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) as the range extender. The PMAs basically aim to fulfill the power requirements of the vehicle and decide how to command the power split between the battery and the FC. The model comprising a DMFC, a battery, and PMAs was developed in MATLAB/Simulink environment. The polarization curve of the FC was obtained using a one-dimensional DMFC model. Vehicle power requirements for a drive cycle were calculated using the equations of longitudinal dynamics of vehicle, and the results were integrated into MATLAB/Simulink model. As a result of the simulations, methanol consumption, state of charge of the battery, and power output of the FC were compared for the PMAs. This comparison shows the effect of PMAs on the hybrid vehicle performance for three battery types. The results indicate that the vehicle range could be increased when proper strategy is used as PMA.     

A two-dimensional analytical model of PEMFC with dead-ended anode

ABSTRACT

When the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) works in the mode of dead-ended anode (DA), the water and the nitrogen in the cathode flow channel will diffuse, and accumulate, to the anode flow channel resulting in fuel starvation on the anode side as well as the performance degradation of PEMFC, which has an important impact on the durability and working state of PEMFC. Because the PEMFC performance is closely related to the cathode working parameters, in order to study the influence of the cathode working parameters on the performance of the PEMFC with DA, a two-dimensional analytical model of PEMFC with DA is established in this article, and the parameters in the model are corrected by experiments. The effects of humidity, stoichiometric ratio and working pressure of cathode gas on the performance of PEMFC with DA are studied by model and experiment, as well as the effects of these working parameters on the accumulation process and distribution of water vapor and nitrogen on the anode side, and the relative performance of PEMFC with DA under different cathode working parameters is obtained. This model is of great significance to guide the practical work of the PEMFC with DA.     

大口径毛细柱测定工作场所空气中的甲醇

采用大口径毛细柱气相色谱法测定工作场所空气中的甲醇,该方法利用硅胶管采集空气样品,超纯水解吸,DB-FFAP（30 m×0.53 mm×0.5μm）色谱柱,氢焰离子化检测器（FID）进行测定。方法的校正曲线相关系数r=0.999 94,线性范围20.30~203.0μg/ml,检出限1.9μg/ml,最低检出溶度1.3 mg/m3（以1.5 L样品计）,相对标准偏差为0.28%~0.53%,平均解吸率为96.3%,标准样品检查结果在参考范围内。实验结果表明,大口径毛细柱气相色谱法测定工作场所空气中的甲醇,方法精密度好,准确性和灵敏度高,适用于工作场所空气中甲醇的测定。     

Gas–Liquid Two-Phase Flow in a Mini-Channel with Water Infiltration Continuously Along the Flow Direction

Characteristics of air–water two-phase flow pattern in a square-mini-channel were investigated experimentally. One sidewall of the flow channel was made of a permeable porous media. Air was fed into the channel from its inlet, while liquid water was injected uniformly into the channel along the permeable sidewall. Based on the results of visualization, the typical flow patterns encountered in the conventional co-current gas–liquid two-phase flow were not observed in the present work. Flow patterns of this special gas–liquid two-phase flow were catalogued, and the influence of gas flow rate and liquid infiltration rate on flow patterns was also analyzed. The results also indicate that the channel differential pressure on both sides brings obvious fluctuations when the liquid is infiltrated. The frequency of this fluctuation depends not only on the amount of liquid infiltration but also relies on the gas flow rate significantly. However, the amount of liquid infiltration barely affects the fluctuation in the amplitude of the pressure differential.     

The influences of recycle effect on double-pass V-corrugated solar air heaters

The study of the heat transfer enhancement for the recycling double-pass V-corrugated solar air heaters, which implement the external recycle of flowing air, was investigated experimentally and theoretically. The comparison among different designs of V-corrugated, baffled and fins attached, and flat-plate collectors was made to show the device performance improvement with various operating parameters under the same working dimensions. The recycling double-pass V-corrugated device developed here was proposed in aiming to strengthen the convective heat-transfer coefficient and enlarge the heat transfer area. The error analysis of experimental results deviate by 0.85–2.46% from the theoretical predictions with the fairly good agreement, and both results show that the device performance of the recycling double-pass V-corrugated operation is better than those of the other configurations under various recycle ratios and mass flow rates. The suitable selections were obtained for operating recycling double-pass V-corrugated devices while considering with an economic viewpoint by both the collector efficiency enhancement and the power consumption increment.     

Experimental investigation into performance of integrated hotbox in 1-kW solid oxide fuel cell system

An experimental investigation is performed to evaluate the performance of an integrated hotbox in a 1-kW solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) system fed by natural gas. The integrated hotbox comprises all the main balance of plant components of an SOFC system, i.e. afterburner, reformer, and heat exchanger, and it not only reduces the physical size of the system but also yields improved system efficiency. The experimental results show that under optimal operating conditions, the combined H₂ and CO content of the reformate gas is approximately 70%, while both anode and cathode in-gas temperatures are around approximately 750°C.     

Biomass Based Sorption Cooling Systems for Cold Storage Applications

Controlled atmospheric storage is a widely popular technique for storage of fruits and vegetables. In this paper, the experimental studies on biomass powered absorption systems for cold storage applications using ammonia water as a working fluid pair is presented. The heat input to the absorption system is supplied by a producer gas obtained from a downdraft gasifier, using firewood as fuel. The system is designed and fabricated to store about 15 MT of fruits and vegetables, having a cooling capacity of 3 TR. The effect of sink temperature, solution flow rate, cooling water flow rate and biomass consumption on the performance of the system has been analyzed. It is found that the real co-efficient of performance of the system is around 0.35 - 0.2, considering the source-site factor for auxiliary power consumption. The operating Cost/h for the biomass based cold storage system is lower than the presently available conventional compression based units.     

Configuration influence in relation to fluid flow of venturi system

Due to its simplicity and accurately measuring the flow rate, the venturi system is a special kind of pipe that is widely used in various applied fluid mixtures. One of the venturi system's important applications is ejectors devices that accurately facilitate adding air to water to sustain oxygen demand target levels in many waterworks engineering systems. This study aims to improve venturi system measurement accuracy through experimental investigation and analytical analysis for the venturi system conditional configuration parameters effect on target aeration operational efficiency. In the experiment work, different runs are implemented to characterize the performance of such aerators by describing the impact of venturi characteristics and configurations, including water flow rate, air inlets orifices diameters, inlet velocities, throat lengths, inlet angles, outlets angles, and outlet diameters on aeration efficiency. Results show that the venturi air vent diameter is an important governing parameter for determining aeration performance value. Additionally, an indicated increase in aeration performance with an increasing throat length to its diameter ratio. Meanwhile, the results revealed a varying noted effect of the venturi system characteristics and configurations on aeration performance. Moreover, the equations that relate venturi system configuration and Reynolds numbers with the aeration operational performance are developed to facilitate the target accurate aeration efficiency estimation.     

The Effects of Gas Flow Rate and the Interval Time of Water Supplement on Ethanol Production of Rice Straw by Simultaneous Saccharification and Fermentation

In the present work, characteristics of ethanol production from a single particle composing of pretreated rice straw, cellulase, and β-glucosidase were invesitgated by simultaneous saccharification and fermentation (SSF). The experiment experienced a start-up stage for S. cerevisiae biofilm formation, which was operated at an initial pH value of 4.8 for yeast solution, culture temperature of 30°C, flow rate of 0.8 mL/min for yeast solution, and stably operating stage for ethanol production at a culture temperature of 30°C. Investigations found that the maximal ethanol yield of 9.7 mg/g and the biofilm thickness of 0.37 mm were obtained at 30 mL/min of carrier gas flow rate. Also, the optimal interval time of water supplement was 4 h for SSF. The results show that the appropriate gas flow rate and the interval time of water supplement can keep the high activities of biofilm and enzymes during SSF and result in a high ethanol yield.     

Performance improvement of a double-pass V-corrugated solar air heater under recycling operation

The device performance of double-pass V-corrugated solar air heaters with external recycle was investigated experimentally and theoretically. The comparison between V-corrugated and flat-plate collectors was made to show the thermal efficiency improvement with various operating parameters. The results show that the collector efficiency improvement of the recycling double-pass V-corrugated operation is much higher than those of the other configurations under various recycle ratios and mass flow rates. However, there exists the penalty on the power consumption increment due to implementing V-corrugated channel into the solar air heaters, an economic consideration on both the heat-transfer efficiency enhancement and power consumption increment for the double-pass V-corrugated device was also delineated. The experimental setup was carried out to validate the theoretical predictions, and the fairly good agreement between both results was achieved with the error analysis of 0.48-1.83%.     

Modification Effect of Proton-Exchange Membrane on Methanol Permeation and Proton Conductivity for Direct Methanol Fuel Cell

Abstract

The Nafion membranes modified with a long chain counter ion, (C₈H₁₇)₄N⁺ or (CH₃)₄N⁺, and sandwich-type modified Nafion membranes were prepared as proton conducting membranes (PEM) for a direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). We evaluated the methanol permeability, ionic conductivity, ion cluster diameter, ion exchange capacity and water content. The ion cluster diameter of the modified Nafion membranes was determined by small angle X-ray diffraction (SAXRD) measurements, and decreased in comparison with Nafion 117. The methanol crossover flux decreased to less than 10% that of Nafion 117 with the decreasing ion cluster diameter. For the sandwich-type membrane (Octyl-s1), the methanol crossover flux was 46% that of Nafion 117 and the ionic conductivity was 4.2 S/m.     

Research on distribution performance of desert sand for heat storage in downcomer

In this research, desert sand is used as the sensible heat storage medium, which exchanges heat with air in the downcomer to realize heat storage and heat release. The desert sand distribution uniformity has a significant impact on the heat exchange performance and efficiency between desert sand and air for the process of convection in the downcomer. Given the superiority of sensible heat storage in convective heat transfer between desert sand and air, distributors with cylinder or conical bore solid particles and homogeneity performance testing device are designed and manufactured on the basis of convection system equipped with solid particle–air downcomer. Then, the convection experiment between solid sand and air is researched. The greater the desert sand flow rate and higher the volume density, the larger the variance of regional mass flow rate and the worse the homogeneity performance. For the cylinder bore distributor, the smaller the sand particle size is, the greater affected the sand groups can be. The sand homogeneity performance is preferable with the two particle size ranges: 0.18-0.25 mm and 0.15-0.18 mm. The total sand flow rate decreases, but the uniformity improves with the increase of the air flow velocity, and the best distribution performance is achieved at an air velocity of 0.6 m/s. However, the distribution performance declines with the air flow velocity persistently increasing because the sand groups are pushed to one pipe side close to the wall. The sand groups deflect seriously with the air flow velocity increasing.     

Determination of effects of turbulence flow in a cathode environment on electricity generation using a tidal mud-based cylindrical-type sediment microbial fuel cell

We examined the possibility of harvesting electricity from the surface of a tidal mud flat using a cylindrical-type sediment microbial fuel cell (SMFC), a marine mud battery (MMB), which can be applied in a sea environment where the ebb and flow occur due to tidal difference. In addition, we indirectly investigated the influence of ebb and flow in a lab, using aeration, argon gassing, and by agitating the cathodic solution. The MMBs consisted of cylindrical acrylic compartments containing a nylon membrane, an anode, and a cathode in a single body. The MMBs were stuck vertically into an artificial tidal mud flat such that the anode electrode was in direct contact with the tidal mud surface. As a result, the maximum current and power density generated were 35 mA/m² and 9 mW/m², respectively, thus verifying that it is possible to harvest electricity from the surface of a tidal mud flat using an MMB without burying the anode electrode in the tidal mud. Furthermore, the results of tests using an artificial turbulence flow showed the flow induced by the tidal ebb and flow could allow the performance of MMBs to be enhanced.