The use of Cs0.5H0.5PW12O40 insoluble salt as a superacid promoter in the catalyst layer of a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been investigated. An increase of performance has been recorded at intermediate temperatures (110–130 °C) and under low relative humidity (R.H.). The promoter appears to mitigate the ionomer dry-out effects in the catalytic layer and produces an increa...

Considerable attention has been focused on solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) due to their potential for providing clean and reliable electric power. However, the high operating temperatures of current SOFCs limit their adoption in mobile applications. To lower the SOFC operating temperature, we fabricated a corrugated thin-film electrolyte membrane by nanosphere lithography and atomic layer deposi...

The influence of air-conditioning activity on the emissions and fuel consumption of passenger cars is an important issue, since fleet penetration and use of these systems have reached a high level. Apart from the MOBILE6 study in the United States, little data is available on the impact of air-conditioning devices (A/Cs). Since weather conditions and A/C technologies both differ from those in t...

The cultivation of microalgae as a feedstock for renewable fuels is widely touted as a way to sequester CO2 while negating food versus fuel competition for land. However, the widespread industrial use of microalgae for biofuels has yet to reach a critical stage based on lipid extraction alone. One alternative to the transesterification of microalgae for liquid fuel production is to use thermoch...

With the rapid depleting of fossil fuels and its pollution intensive research is going on for the alternative fuels which produce low emissions and are should be renewable. Due to the production of sugar cane in our country is more (alcohol is a byproduct in the production of sugar), alcohol is considered as a preferable replacement for the diesel. However due to alcohol high latent heat of vap...

A wave rotor may be used as a pressure-gain combustor, effecting wave compression and expansion, and intermittent confined combustion, to enhance gas-turbine engine performance. It will be more compact than an equivalent pressure-exchange wave-rotor system, but will have similar thermodynamic and mechanical characteristics. Because the allowable turbine blade temperature limits overall fuel-air...

The catalytic combustion of methane/air mixtures is investigated experimentally and numerically at gas turbine relevant conditions (inlet temperatures up to 873 K, pressures up to 15 bar and spatial velocities up to 3 × 106 h−1). Experiments are performed in a sub-scale test rig, consisting of a metallic honeycomb structure with alternately coated (Pd-based catalyst) channels. Simulations are c...

This study describes a novel approach utilizing waste heat from the exhaust gas for comfort heating of the passenger compartment of a vehicle with an air-cooled engine. In the devised system, a water stream heated by the hot exhaust gas was sent to the passenger compartment of a commercial minibus with an air-cooled engine, and the system was tested under various operating conditions. Variation...

The state-of-the-art of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) technology is based on perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) polymer membranes operating at a typical temperature of 80 °C. Some of the key issues and shortcomings of the PFSA-based PEMFC technology are briefly discussed. These include water management, CO poisoning, hydrogen, reformate and methanol as fuels, cooling, and heat recov...