Two modifications to a reference direct methanol fuel-cell (DMFC) system are considered to improve methanol fuel utilisation. Fuel utilisation can be optimised by minimising the parasitic methanol crossover by manipulating methanol concentration in the fuel cells. Simulations of the two systems indicate that there is considerable potential to increase fuel utilisation for dynamic concentration ...

The use of alcohol blends in direct alcohol fuel cells may be a more environmentally friendly and less toxic alternative to the use of methanol alone in direct methanol fuel cells. This paper assesses the behaviour of a direct methanol fuel cell fed with aqueous methanol, aqueous ethanol and aqueous methanol/ethanol blends in a long term experimental study followed by modelling of polarization ...

A comprehensive study on the methanol as an alternative fuel has been carried out. A four stroke four cylinder diesel engine was adopted to study engine power, torque, break specific fuel consumption, break thermal efficiency and exhaust temperature with the fuel of fraction methanol in diesel. In this study, the diesel engine was tested using methanol blended with diesel at certain mixing rati...

An aqueous methanol sensor for use in direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) applications is demonstrated; the methanol sensor is built using dispersed single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) with Nafion117 solution to detect the methanol concentration in water. The study is aimed at the potential use of the carbon nanotubes array as a methanol sensor for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs). The con...

Methanol has been promoted as an alternative transportation fuel from time to time over the past forty years. In spite of significant efforts to realize the vision of methanol as a practical transportation fuel in the US, such as the California methanol fueling corridor of the 1990s, it did not succeed on a large scale. This white paper covers all important aspects of methanol as a transportati...

Direct methanol fuel cells (DMFC) are getting increasing attention as a possible power source for application in the field of power electronics where the energy requirements are relatively small. The major advantage of the DMFC is their high energy density in comparison to the conventional batteries. In this study, the performance of a passive direct methanol fuel cell was investigated under fi...

For automotive applications, it is necessary to maximize the fuel conversion efficiency of a PEM direct-methanol fuel cell (DMFC) over the broadest possible dynamic range of power. The research reported here critically examines the efficiency of the DMFC stack when operated over a broad power range. This research establishes a basis for a control strategy that simultaneously: optimizes DMFC fue...

In the current work, a comprehensive study on the possibility of using methanol as an alternative fuel for diesel engines was carried out. Methanol was mixed at different ratios with diesel fuel. The mixing ratios of methanol to diesel were 0:100, 10:90, 20:80 and 30:70. The effects of methanol fraction on engine power, torque, brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC), brake thermal efficiency an...

Abstract. In PEM fuel cells pure hydrogen is used as a fuel. Due to its low density, the density of its stored energy is low, too. One of the possible solutions to the problem is production of hydrogen from the energy-reach material, e.g. methanol. Conversion of methanol to hydrogen is made with reformer in a steam reforming process in which besides methanol there is also water needed. On the o...

Experimentation about alternative fuels started mostly after the oil crisis of 1980’s to 1990’s after the World War II. In order to reduce the use of petroleum product which are limited in nature, the idea of alternative fuels was developed. In this paper an attempt has been made to investigate the engine performance in a four stroke single cylinder water cooled diesel engine using pure diesel ...