The development of proton-exchange membranes for fuel cells has generated global interest in order to have a potential source of power for stationary and portable applications. The membrane is the heart of a fuel cell and the performance of a fuel cell depends largely on the physico-chemical nature of the membrane and its stability in the hostile environment of hydrogen and oxygen at elevated t...

Wildland fires are a function of properties of the fuels that sustain them. These fuels are themselves a function of vegetation, and share the complexity and dynamics of natural systems. Worldwide, the requirement for solutions to the threat of fire to human values has resulted in the development of systems for predicting fire behaviour. To date, regional differences in vegetation and independe...

Abstract—Five palm oil ether monoesters utilized as novel biodiesels were synthesized and structurally identified in the paper. The investigation was made on the effect of ether species on physicochemical properties of the palm oil ether monoesters. The results showed that density, kinematic viscosity, smoke point, and solidifying point increase linearly with their –CH2 group number in certain ...

Our previous studies demonstrated great potential of methyl methacrylate and vinylbenzyl chloride based copolymer electrolytes for alkaline fuel cell applications. In this study, a number of factors including polymer composition drift, molecular weight, and polymer crosslinking is investigated to understand their effects and to precisely control the electrolyte properties including conductivity...

Tunable alkaline anion-exchange membranes based on QPMBV are synthesized using a bottom-up approach, miniemulsion copolymerization, which can incorporate functional groups into the copolymers with designated composition and high molecular weight. The mechanical and electrochemical properties of the obtained QPMBV membranes are tuned by varying the composition. It is found that the ion exchange ...

Results obtained by computer modeling and simulation using ab-initio and molecular dynamics techniques for elucidation of structural and catalytic properties of the PdCoMo trimetallic compound are reported; a comparison of these results with those obtained by sputtering deposition onto a nafion membrane to be used as catalyst for a 1KW PEM fuel cell is made. Structure was calculated by ab-initi...

Industrial gas turbines allow operation with a wide variety of gaseous and liquid fuels. To determine the suitability for operation with a gas fuel system, various physical parameters of the proposed fuel need to be determined: heating value, dew point, JouleThompson coefficient, Wobbe index, and others. This paper describes an approach to provide a consistent treatment for determining the abov...

Comparisons with respect to the sooting tendency are made between stationary diffusion flames and diffusion flames with pulsations induced by oscillating fuel flow. Time-resolved measurements of the soot particle properties in the flames are obtained by combining Rayleigh-scattering, laser-induced incandescence, and extinction measurements into the RAYLIX method. Furthermore, flame luminosity a...

In this part of the investigation, flow-field properties of hydrogen jets injected into a hypersonic flow are reported. The combustor has a single fuel injection parallel to the main flow from the base. The numerical simulation has been done with finite rate chemistry model using K-ε turbulence model. The results obtained through the numerical simulation of the cavity based fuel injectors are p...

The structure of Nafion, the polymer electrolyte membrane used in some fuel cells, has been extensively debated over recent decades. Now, a newly proposed model reveals the nanoscale arrangement that could explain the excellent transport properties of the material. Transport is a major source of pollution in cities. As a result, the development of cars and buses which generate low or negligible...