A high-power carbohydrate fuel cell

This paper reports the development of a fuel cell consisting of a vanadium flow battery in which the vanadium ions are reduced by sugar (from a carbohydrate) to oxidation state +3 on one side of a membrane, and are oxidized to state +5 on the other side by oxygen. The theoretical upper limit to the...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ragnar Larsson, Börje Folkesson, Placido M. Spaziante, Waret Veerasai, Robert H.B. Exell
Other Authors: SuFuCell AB
Format: Article
Published: 2018
Subjects:
Online Access:https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/23227
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Institution: Mahidol University
Description
Summary:This paper reports the development of a fuel cell consisting of a vanadium flow battery in which the vanadium ions are reduced by sugar (from a carbohydrate) to oxidation state +3 on one side of a membrane, and are oxidized to state +5 on the other side by oxygen. The theoretical upper limit to the conversion efficiency of the energy in sugar by this method under standard conditions is 54%. We have obtained efficiencies up to 45% in our laboratory tests. This way of using biomass for electricity production avoids the Carnot cycle losses in heat engines. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.