last news

Advantage and Disadvantage
Advantages
  • Fuel cells eliminate pollution caused by burning fossil fuels; the only by-product is water.
  • If the hydrogen used comes from the electrolysis of water, then using fuel cells eliminates greenhouse gases.
  • Fuel cells do not need conventional fuels such as oil or gas and can therefore eliminate economic dependence on politically unstable countries.
  • Since hydrogen can be produced anywhere where there is water and electricity, production of potential fuel can be distributed.
  • Installation of smaller stationary fuel cells leads to a more stabilized and decentralized power grid.
  • Fuel cells have a higher efficiency than diesel or gas engines.
  • Most fuel cells operate silently, compared to internal combustion engines
  • Low temperature fuel cells (PEM, DMFC) have low heat transmission which makes them ideal for military applications.
  • Operating times are much longer than with batteries, since doubling the operating time needs only doubling the amount of fuel and not the doubling of the capacity of the unit itself.
  • Fuel cells have no “memory effect” when they are getting refueled.
  • The maintenance of fuel cells is simple since there are few moving parts in the system.
  • Fuel cells provide high quality DC power.
  • The absence of combustion and moving parts means that fuel cell technologies are expected to provide much improved reliability over traditional combustion engines.
  • Use a variety of fuels, renewable energy and clean fossil fuels.
  • The power densities are high values.
  • Cogeneration Capability.
  • Fuel cells can be responsive to changing electrical loads.
  • Fuel cell operating temperatures vary from around 80°C for low-temperature PEMFCs to around 1000°C for MCFCs. Temperatures inside combustion engines may reach over 2000°C.
Disadvantages

  • Fuelling fuel cells is still a major problem since the production, transportation, distribution and storage of hydrogen is difficult.
  • Reforming hydrocarbons via reformer to produce hydrogen is technically challenging and not clearly environmentally friendly.
  • The refueling and the starting time of fuel cell vehicles are longer and the driving range is shorter than in a “normal” car.
  • Fuel cells are in general slightly bigger than comparable batteries or engines. However, the size of the units is decreasing.
  • Fuel cells are currently very expensive to produce, since most units are hand-made.
  • Some fuel cells use expensive materials.
  • The technology is not yet fully developed and few products are available.
Last Update: Thursday 11 December 2008 Time: 23:23
Return To Home