Investigation of the Performance of the Micro Direct Ethanol Fuel Cell

The direct ethanol fuel cell (DEFC) is selected for this research. DEFC uses ethanol in the fuel cell instead of the more toxic methanol. Ethanol is more attractive than methanol by many reasons. Ethanol is a hydrogen-rich liquid and it has a higher specific energy (8.0 kWh/kg) compared to methanol (6.1 kWh/kg). Ethanol can be obtained in great quantity from biomass through a fermentation process from renewable resources like from sugar cane, wheat, corn, or even straw. The use of ethanol would also overcome both the storage and infrastructure challenge of hydrogen for fuel cell applications. The experimental apparatus on the micro direct ethanol fuel cell for measuring the cell performance has been set for this research. The goal of the DEFC study in this research was studied on the performance of the micro direct ethanol fuel cell (Micro-DEFC). The experimental performance testing were studied about three kinds of the ethanol blended. There are the ethanol was blended with pure distilled water, the ethanol was blended with conventional drinking water and the ethanol was blended with normal tap water. The effect of operating temperature change on the electrical production is also study too. The cell performance is specified in the terms of cell voltage and power of the cell. By observing for all three experiments, increasing the volume of ethanol and the cell operating temperature effect on the electrical production of the fuel cell. By increasing the volume of ethanol and the temperature, the fuel cell gradually produce the electrical value and gradually increase to the maximum value, and then gradually decrease until the fuel has been depleted. Increasing the volumetric of ethanol and cell operating temperature effect on the electrical current production and power of the fuel cell but do not affect on the electrical potential or have a little effect. Compared to the three experiments, the third experiment that the ethanol was blended with normal tap water. Due to the impurity of the water, the crossing of the water from the electrode to the electrode within the electrochemical reaction zone of the fuel cell results in the abrasion of the electrochemical reaction of the fuel cell. So, it is given the low fuel cell production capacity.