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Home > Archive > Alternative Power sources > February 2007 > Hydrogen Production by Methanol Electrolysis
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Hydrogen Production by Methanol Electrolysis
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| lkgeo1 2007-02-11, 1:25 pm |
| Hydrogen Production by Methanol Electrolysis
Publication Date:11-February-2007
11:30 AM US Eastern Timezone
Source:FuelCellWorks/Prof. Shen
The main obstacle in the commercial exploitation of water electrolysis
for large scale hydrogen production is the high electricity
consumption which makes the process economically unattractive. Prof.
Shen, from Advanced Energy Materials Research laboratory of Sun Yat-
Sen University, has developed an innovative approach, as well as an
economic way, to produce hydrogen by alcohol electrolysis. In this
way, only 1/3 electricity consumption will be required compared to
water electrolysis.
The principle of the electrolysis of methanol is explained as follows.
Methanol is oxidized via a dehydrogenation process at the anode and
the resulting H+ ions then diffuse through the proton exchange
membrane (PEM) to the cathode chamber where they are reduced to
hydrogen gas.
A promising advantage is that the standard potential is only 0.02 V
vs. NHE for methanol oxidation compared to 1.23 V for water
electrolysis. Moreover, the hydrogen generated originates not only
from the alcohol but also from the water during the electrolysis
processes according to the overall equation (3):
At anode: CH3OH + H2O = 6H+ + CO2 + 6e- Eo = 0.02 V vs. NHE
(1)
At cathode: 2H+ + 2e- = H2
(2)
Overall: CH3OH + H2O = 3H2 + CO2
(3)
The combination of this electrolyser concept with solar cells would
economically produce hydrogen for storage and subsequent use in, or
for on-spot use in fuel cells and chemical engineering applications.
The two techniques are assembled to one set as shown below. Such sets
are ideal for education, demonstration, research and other
applications. These originally invented sets are ready to mass
production.
Features:
Easy to operate
Compact
Reliable
Technical specifications
Electrolyser(alcohol): 0.2 - 1.0 V, 0.0 to 2 A
Electrolyser(water): 1.5 - 2.5 V, 0.0 to 1 A
Electrode surface: 16.0 cm2
http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/Supppage6889.html
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| Anthony Matonak 2007-02-11, 1:25 pm |
| lkgeo1 wrote:
> Hydrogen Production by Methanol Electrolysis
....
Why produce hydrogen when methanol (alcohol) is already
a perfectly good fuel? We've got internal combustion engines
and fuel cells that run off methanol directly. There is no
need for the extra step for hydrogen.
Anthony
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| lkgeo1 2007-02-12, 8:25 pm |
| On Feb 11, 12:24?pm, Anthony Matonak
<anthony...@nothing.like.socal.rr.com> wrote:
> lkgeo1 wrote:
>
> ...
> Why produce hydrogen when methanol (alcohol) is already
> a perfectly good fuel? We've got internal combustion engines
> and fuel cells that run off methanol directly. There is no
> need for the extra step for hydrogen.
>
> Anthony
You are 100% correct: Kurita proposes solid-state methanol for fuel
cells
Eetasia.com (subscription) - USA
A Tokyo-based company Kurita Water Industries Ltd has proposed and
demonstrated solid-state methanol fuel for direct methanol fuel cells
at the Fuel Cell ...
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