Abstract
Fuel cells are strongly linked to renewable energies, particularly to the so-called “Hydrogen Economy”. For decades the development of fuel cells able to convert hydrogen and oxygen in electrical energy with water as unique byproduct has motivated huge activity in fundamental and applied electrochemistry.
In this chapter we introduce the concept of methanol economy and discuss its status and perspectives. To be a reality the methanol and other alcohol economies depend on the development of alcohol feed fuel cells, whose components, operation modes and general performance are analyzed.
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Notes
- 1.
Toe is defined as the amount of energy released when one tonne of crude oil is burned. It is equivalent to 41.87 GJ or 11.63 MWh.
- 2.
French economist and sociologist born in 1940, author of “Degrowth Economics”.
- 3.
This concept was introduced in 1975 by M. K. Hubbert, who claims that the fossil era (coal, oil, gas) is just a “blink of eyes between the first and second solar civilizations”.
- 4.
In this book we use both definitions for MEA, according to the authors preferences.
- 5.
The anode GDL in a DAFC should be named DL because the alcohol is usually fed as an aqueous solution.
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Corti, H.R., Gonzalez, E.R. (2014). Introduction to Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells. In: Corti, H., Gonzalez, E. (eds) Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7708-8_1
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