Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology

There has been an incredible interest in using hydrogen fuel as an alternative to gasoline because it burns clean, has high potential for domestic production, and the hydrogen fuel vehicle would run at a higher efficiency than the gasoline engine. As it stands, the government has an alternative fuels initiative that encourages incorporating the hydrogen fuel cell into automobiles as a way to power cars.

How Do They Work?

But how do hydrogen fuel cells work? They work because they use a pollution-free chemical reaction that occurs within the fuel cell. The process of combustion does not take place like in a gasoline engine. Basically, the hydrogen fuel cell has the capability to combine hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, waste heat, and water. In turn, the automobile will run.

However, hydrogen as fuel requires that a light duty vehicle carry anywhere between 11 and 29 pounds of hydrogen to achieve a driving range of approximately 300 miles. Furthermore, the makeup of hydrogen has a low volumetric energy density, which means the car would need a gas tank larger than the trunk on an average car.

The good news is that there are storage technologies being developed and they involve using pressure tanks that store gaseous hydrogen at pressures as high as 10,000 pounds per square inch, cryogenic liquid hydrogen cooled to temperatures as low as -423°F, and chemical bonding hydrogen that binds with another material.

One reason why alternative fuels such as these are being researched is to alleviate the dependence upon gasoline. The environment also plays a very important role because hydrogen fuel cell technology is expected to be used in cars with electric motors and electric motors are totally emission-free.

Using hydrogen fuel as a fuel source is a priority in the search for viable alternative fuels and success has been made. In just a matter of time, we could all be driving cars that use hydrogen as fuel.