Kilowatt-Scale Fuel Cell Systems Powered by Recycled Aluminum
Name
jeecs_18_1_011003.pdf
Description
Published version
Size
799.31 KB
Format
Unknown
Checksum (MD5)
6843019bda0effd11011be9e19f36394
Author(s)
Godart, Peter
Fischman, Jason Z.
Hart, Douglas
Date Issued
2021
Journal
Journal of Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage
Publisher
ASME International
Citation
Godart, Peter, Fischman, Jason and Hart, Douglas. 2021. "Kilowatt-Scale Fuel Cell Systems Powered by Recycled Aluminum." Journal of Electrochemical Energy Conversion and Storage, 18 (1).
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Abstract
Presented here is a novel system that uses an aluminum-based fuel to continuously produce electrical power at the kilowatt scale via a hydrogen fuel cell. This fuel has an energy density of 23.3 kW h/L and can be produced from abundant scrap aluminum via a minimal surface treatment of gallium and indium. These additional metals, which in total comprise 2.5% of the fuel’s mass, permeate the grain boundary network of the aluminum to disrupt its oxide layer, thereby enabling the fuel to react exothermically with water to produce hydrogen gas and aluminum oxyhydroxide (AlOOH), an inert and valuable byproduct. To generate electrical power using this fuel, the aluminum–water reaction is controlled via water input to a reaction vessel in order to produce a constant flow of hydrogen, which is then consumed in a fuel cell to produce electricity. As validation of this power system architecture, we present the design and implementation of two proton-exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems that successfully demonstrate this approach. The first is a 3 kW emergency power supply, and the second is a 10 kW power system integrated into a BMW i3 electric vehicle.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1115/1.4046660
