All-Electric Ship Sustainable Power from Alkaline Membrane Fuel Cells

You are here: Homepage > Search

All-Electric Ship Sustainable Power from Alkaline Membrane Fuel Cells

Raimundo, Rodrigo C. / Jose V. C., Vargas / Ordonez, Juan C.

This work proposes a system that combines H2 produced by Al oxidation in water using NaOH as catalyst, and a fuel cell stack to generate power. A cellulosic membrane avoids the use of asbestos (carcinogenic) and ammonia (toxic) based membranes. Aluminum is inexpensive, abundant and fully recyclable. A sustainable alkaline membrane fuel cell (SAMFC) stack with four single cells, the reactor, and CO2 purifier were built. The results are presented in polarization and power curves. Even with recycled aluminum, the results demonstrate that the SAMFC stack delivered 3.73 V in open circuit and $\sim 3 {W}$ of maximum power, which is similar to the stack operating with pure H2. Taking into account that H2 could also be generated by aluminum corrosion in seawater, the main conclusion is that with in situ sustainable H2 production, the SAMFC stack has the potential to become economically competitive, and replace traditional AES power sources.