Fuel Cell Vehicles

Decarbonising transport is proving to be one of today‘s major challenges for the global automotive industry due to many factors such as the increase in greenhouse gas and particulate emissions not only affecting the climate but also humans, the increase in pollution, rapid oil depletion, issues with energy security and dependency from foreign sources and population growth. For more than a century, our society has been dependent upon oil, and major breakthroughs in low and ultra-low carbon technologies and vehicles are urgently required. This review paper highlights the current status of Hybrid, Battery and Fuel Cell Electric Vehicles from an electrochemical and market point of view. The review paper also discusses the advantages and disadvantages of using each technology in the automotive industry and the impact of these technologies on consumers.

This study aims to (1) convert agricultural waste to biochar through pyrolysis, (2) examine its physiochemical characteristics, and (3) investigate its potential role as fuel and catalyst in energy recovery technologies. The produced biochars at 250, 350, and 450 °C showed a wide range of mineralogical composition, high porosity, and thermal stability, and alkaline pH that make biochar suitable for improving the processes of energy recovery technologies such as anaerobic digestion (AD), transesterification and pyrolysis. The alkaline pH of biochars can neutralize the acidic condition and increase the digestibility of the feedstock in AD process for enhanced methane (CH4) production. Biochar favors the transesterification process for biodiesel production due to products separation and high stability under basic and acidic conditions. In pyrolysis process, biochar can act as a catalyst to increase the degradation rates of plastic or biomass wastes or can be used as an adsorbent material during the post-treatment to improve the quality of the liquid oil. The high heating values (HHV) of biochars produced at 250, 350 and 450 °C were 24, 23.64 and 23.08 MJ kg-1. This characteristic of biochar along with the high tendency of slagging indicate that biochar could be used itself as a source of energy. Biochar can also act as a promising low-cost adsorbent for capturing carbon dioxide (CO2) due to its highly porous structure and sorptive capacity and subsequently the conversion of absorbed CO2 to fuel. Research is yet required on the application of biochar in pyrolysis and capturing and catalyzing the conversion reactions of CO2 to fuels.

With the global sustainability transition in energy, hydrogen fuel cell (HFC) applications currently have important niche roles to play across several industrial sectors. Theorists examining this innovative activity have identified key socio-technical factors affecting the nature and pace of change. One functional approach to innovation, Technology-Specific Innovation Systems (TSISs), places national HFC Technological Innovation Systems (TISs) within a framework of a global HFC TSIS. This analytical approach suggests that HFC innovation can start anywhere in space. However, in a case study of HFC innovation and diffusion in the UK covering sixty years' activity, this theoretical assumption is challenged. Event history analysis and interviews using a neofunctionalist TSIS approach suggest that positive feedback was on the brink of occurring in the UK HFC TIS by 2012. When additional organisational and spatial indicators are added, the evidence on the ground does not support the aspatial assumptions that underlie TIS heuristic thinking. Rather, it suggested that type of investment funding and spatial location can influence HFC innovation. In this context, the implications for HFC policy in the UK are discussed.

Addressing the contemporary waste management is seeing a shift towards energy production while managing waste sustainably. Consequently, waste treatment through gasification is slowly taking over the waste incineration with multiple benefits, including simultaneous waste management and energy production while reducing landfill volumes and displacing conventional fossil fuels. Only in the UK, there are around 14 commercial plants built to operate on gasification technology. These include fixed bed and fluidized bed gasification reactors. Ultra-clean tar free gasification of waste is now the best available technique and has experienced a significant shift from two-stage gasification and combustion towards a one-stage system for gasification and syngas cleaning. Nowadays in gasification sector, more companies are developing commercial plants with tar cracking and syngas cleaning. Moreover, gasification can be a practical scheme when applying ultra-clean syngas for a gas turbine with heat recovery by steam cycle for district heating and cooling (DHC) systems. This chapter aims to examine the recent trends in gasification-based waste-to-energy technologies. Furthermore, types of gasification technologies, their challenges and future perspectives in various applications are highlighted in detail.

Bio-electrochemical degradation of pentachlorophenol was carried out in single as well as dual chambered microbial fuel cell (MFC) with simultaneous production of electricity. The maximum cell potential was recorded to be 787 and 1021 mV in single and dual chambered systems respectively. The results presented nearly 66 and 89% COD removal in single and dual chambered systems with corresponding power densities of 872.7 and 1468.85 mW m À2 respectively. The highest coulombic efficiency for single and dual chambered counterparts was found to be 33.9% and 58.55%. GC-MS data revealed that pentachlorophenol was more effectively degraded under aerobic conditions in dual-chambered MFC. Real-time polymerase chain reaction showed the dominance of exoelectrogenic Geobacter in the two reactor systems with a slightly higher concentration in the dual-chambered system. The findings of this work suggested that the aerobic treatment of pentachlorophenol in cathodic compartment of dual chambered MFC is better than its anaerobic treatment in single chambered MFC in terms of chemical oxygen demand (COD) removal and output power density.

The development of the chassis for the hydrogen fuel cell powered car has been involved in the designing and manufacturing aspects, while taking into consideration the mass, strength, stiffness, centre of gravity (COG), and manufacturing cost requirements. Towards this direction, a chassis design is proposed employing a space frame structure and constructed by an aluminium alloy with great strength. The structural design has been derived through the lightweight engineering approaches in conjunction with the part consolidation, Design for Assembly (DFA) and Design for Manufacture methods. Moreover, it has been performed in compliance with the safety regulations of the Shell Eco Marathon racing competition. The material's principal characteristics are the great strength, the low mass, as well as the great workability, machinability, and weldability. Following the national and global environmental issues, the recyclable characteristics of the aluminium alloy are an extra asset. Furthermore, the existence of aluminium alloy manufacturers around the fabricating area provides low cost supply and fast delivery benefits. The integration of the fuel cell powered vehicle is obtained through the designing and the manufacturing processes of the chassis and the parts fitted on the chassis. The manufacturing procedures are described thoroughly; mainly consisting of the cutting and welding processes and the assembling of the parts that are fitted on the chassis. Additionally, the proper welding parameters for the custom chassis design are investigated and are selected after deductive reasoning. The quality control of the weld joints is conducted by non-destructive methods (NDT) ensuring the required structural properties of the welds. A combination of the selected material, the specific type of the chassis, and the manufacturing processes lead to construction simplicity in a low manufacturing cost by using the existing laboratory equipment. Furthermore, the designing and manufacturing parameters lead to a stiff with a low centre of gravity, and the most lightweight chassis of the urban concept category at the Shell Eco Marathon race.

Solar irradiation tends to vary greatly throughout the day. The difference is very large especially between the early hours of sunshine, and during the peak hours of the day. Yet, it is desirable to supply a nearly constant amount of power to loads or power grids for high reliability. Hence, we propose a technique aimed at reducing the variation in solar power generation. Solar irradiation data is considered as a time-series data and the approach involves conversion of this data to the frequency domain through Fourier analysis. A more balanced supply by a set of plants is devised by interconnecting the plants, which also requires finding the optimum number of plants to connect using the above analysis. The effectiveness of the procedure is demonstrated by applying a suitable supply prediction algorithm over the individual plants and the effective data for the plants, using real data from Nevada, Texas, and California.

Fuel cell vehicles (FCV) are being seriously viewed as a clean alternative for transportation as it uses hydrogen and
emit zero harmful tailpipe emissions. Due to this greater interest, research on FCV at many levels is being performed
in all parts of the world. A generic prototype FCV was developed locally as part of a continuous work on
understanding the underlying mechanism and optimization of the FCV power train. The 104 kg FCV is driven by a
1.2 kW PEM (proton exchange membrane) fuel cell and 360 W rated power of Brushed DC Maxon motor. This paper
reports the simulation, experimental and validation tests of the prototype FCV using a custom made inertia
dynamometer test bench. This test bench is equipped with data logger that is able to log voltage, current, speed and
time. The test bench was designed to simulate actual of vehicle performance parameters such as energy flow,
acceleration resistance, rolling resistance and aerodynamic drag. The overall power consumption and energy
consumption of the FCV was analyzed as a final outcome.