Present Status and Limitations of Fuel Cells
- Fuel cell technology has been ignored in the recent past due to success of I.C. engines and batteries since the fuel cells were costly and uneconomical. However, the interest in fuel cells have been revived due to their direct energy conversion, high efficiency with negligible or no environmental pollution.
- Fuel cell plants are modular and available in wide range of size 5 kW to 10 MW. These are ideally suited as standalone plants and use of power in remote areas.
- Fuel cell technology was revived in 1980s. Presently Phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC) are operating in Japan, MCFC and SOFC fuels cells are being used in USA and European countries are favouring PAFC, MCFC and SOFC fuel cells.
- A number of companies are engaged in manufacturing of fuel cells like UTC fuel cell, Avista Labs. Other companies like Casio, Motorola, Sony, Panasonic are also developing fuel cells for their various applications.
- Application of fuel cells is limited by their high initial cost and low service life. There are problems in production of pure hydrogen gas due to the presence of inert gases in supply air.