Prospects For Fuel Cell

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29245, 1 July 1960, Page 9

Prospects For Fuel Cell

rpHBU have recently been x nnmereni references to tael cells, a source of energy, and It may be wondered whether these devices will have any impact on the OU Industry. The fuels manufactured today are virtually portable chemical energy. Normally, this energy is released as heat when the customer burns the fuel. If the consumer wants heat, as in a kerosene stove, for example, this is fine; however, if power is required, the fuel must be burned in some form of heat engine, such as a gasoline engine in a car, a diesel engine in a bus, or the boilers of a power station. One thing is common to these heat engines—at best they convert only 40 per cent of the heat supplied into power. Thus, if kerosene were burnt in a power station, converted into electricity and then used to work an electric fire at home, the power station would have to burn two and ahalf times as much fuel as would be needed to provide the same amount of heat if the kerosene were burnt in a blue-flame beater in the room.

There are very good theoretical reasons why heat engines are never likely to have appreciably higher efficiency than 40 per cent. For over 100 years, scientists have been interested in'an alternative means of converting chemical energy into power without the use of a heat engine. The device which makes this possible is the fuel ceU, for this converts chemical energy directly into electricity. The attraction of the fuel cellelectric motor combination over a heat engine is that potentially it can be much more efficient and silent. Unfortunately, the practical problems bf making a workable fuel cell are immense, and ' the only tael cells so far made are not competitive with conventional heat engines. Broadly speaking, there are two types of fuel cell. The first type is that developed by Mr Bacon at Cambridge, in England. It uses pure hydrogen and oxygen under a pressure of 400 pounds per square inch, and works at a temperature of 200 degrees Centigrade. However, the cost of hydrogen and ogygen for the cell makes

it more expensive to run than a diesel engine of similar power. Furthermore, the cell unit is not self-starting. Another type of fuel cell burns conventional distillate fuels such as kerosene, and uses air. One of the most advanced examples of this fuel cell is that being developed at Sondes Place Research Institute, under the joint sponsorship of the Ministry of Power and Shell Research. Ltd. Although this cell converts a conventional fuel into electricity more efficiently than a beat engine, at present its bulk is considerable and it operates at a high temperature <550-600 degrees Centigrade). Like the Bacon cell, it is not self-starting. It can be seen that a great many improvements must be made before either type of fuel cell can Compete with conventional power sources. As major suppliers of fuels for the production of power, oil companies are naturally and directly interested in these developments! They are active to ensure being able to supply the fuel for these cells, whatever form it may take.