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Comparison of Gaseous and Liquid Fuel Cells for Automotive Applications

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Advances in Automotive Technologies

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering ((LNME))

Abstract

Elevating pressure on the automotive industry to significantly reduce harmful emissions has led to an increased focus on the research and development of alternative, ultra-low emission power sources, including batteries and fuel cells. To better understand how fuel cell systems could be integrated into automotive systems, it would be important to draw comparisons between different technologies. Two key fuel cell segments are compared for their suitability in automotive applications, gaseous and liquid fed fuel cells. Comparisons showed the inherent advantages and disadvantages of both technologies. Gaseous fuel cells, such as the increasingly popular polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell, utilise hydrogen as a fuel and typically have very high-power densities. Liquid fuel cells are by comparison, less common. One up-and-coming technology is the direct methanol fuel cell. For use in automotive applications, this type of fuel cell shows potential as the storage of methanol is very similar to traditional internal combustion fuels such as petrol and diesel.

Peer-reviewed under responsibility of the scientific committee of the International Conference on Progress in Automotive Technologies, ICPAT—2019.

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Abbreviations

BEV:

Battery electric vehicle

CH3OH:

Methanol

CGH2:

Compressed gaseous hydrogen

CO2:

Carbon dioxide

H2:

Hydrogen

HEV:

Hybrid electric vehicle

FC:

Fuel cell

ICE:

Internal combustion engine

LH2:

Liquid hydrogen

PEMFC:

Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the support of the EPSRC CDT in fuel cells and their fuels, grant number EP/L015749/1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Loughborough University, Loughborough, LE11 3TU, UK

    A. Thirkell & R. Chen

Authors
  1. A. Thirkell
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  2. R. Chen
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. Thirkell .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Purdue School of Engineering & Technology, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    M. Razi Nalim

  2. School of Mechanical Engineering, Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT), Vellore, Tamil Nadu, India

    R. Vasudevan

  3. Enhanced Composites and Structures Centre, Cranfield University, Cranfield, UK

    Sameer Rahatekar

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Thirkell, A., Chen, R. (2021). Comparison of Gaseous and Liquid Fuel Cells for Automotive Applications. In: Nalim, M.R., Vasudevan, R., Rahatekar, S. (eds) Advances in Automotive Technologies. Lecture Notes in Mechanical Engineering. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5947-1_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-5947-1_5

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  • Online ISBN: 978-981-15-5947-1

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