วัชราภรณ์ แสงอรุณ. Simulation of Performance of a Direct Mixed Alcohol Fuel Cell. Master's Degree(Chemical Engineering). King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi. KMUTT Library. : King Mongkut's University of Technology Thonburi, 2010.
Simulation of Performance of a Direct Mixed Alcohol Fuel Cell
Abstract:
Most of all direct alcohol fuel cell models have been developed for handling only pure
fuel, either methanol or ethanol. These models cannot be employed to describe the
behavior of the cell fed with mixed alcohol (methanol/ethanol) solution. The model
becomes more complicated when one has to consider the oxidation of various liquid
fuels. In this study, the model of direct mixed alcohol fuel cell was developed a using
rate expression derived from the multistep heterogeneous reaction mechanism including
adsorption of intermediate species and dual site surface electrochemical reaction. The
model was therefore constructed using MATLAB software to calculate all polarizations
including activation, ohmic and mass transport losses. The simulation results showed
that the major loss in direct mixed alcohol fuel cell was due to activation and mass
transport resistance. The fast drop of cell performance as ethanol was mixed into the
fuel was caused by the competitive adsorption of ethanol on Pt surface with methanol
resulting in the reduction of methanol surface coverage. The kinetic parameters
estimated from the case of pure alcohol solution can be used to predict the behavior of
the cell fed with mixed alcohol. By comparing with the in-house experimental data, a
relatively good agreement between the simulated and experimental data was achieved.