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Content archived on 2024-05-14

Bioethanol as fuel for fuel cell vehicles and small scale stationary power production

Objective



The objective of the proposed project is to prove the feasibility of the process chain from biomass via bioethanol to hydrogen as fuel for low temperature fuel cells. Bioethanol as liquid fuel with high energy density is suitable for mobile application in vehicles and in stationary systems.
Technical and economical aspects will be the main criteria for evaluation of the usage of bioethanol as fuel for a fuel cell system, because the environmental advantages of clean biofuels and clean and high efficient fuel cell technology are evident. Therefore, a study on the availability and on the cost of bioethanol production will be the basis. The different conversion processes starting from sugars or lignocellulosic crops will be considered. The subsequent conversion process of the bioethanol to hydrogen by steam reforming and gas clean-up will be verified experimentally, in order to investigate and optimise the reactors. For purification, mainly PSA will be subject of experiment but other options are membrane separation processes using metal or polymer membranes. The experiments will be the basis for evaluation of the complete process: selection of suitable reactors, calculating the process efficiency, design of the components and cost of hydrogen generation.

A suitable application will be selected and a study on system integration will be performed. A tentative market analysis will show the chances for future progress in this field.

Finally, a comparative study of the designed system with fuel cell systems operated with other types of fuels will be performed. The main alternatives being presently subject to R&D are methanol steam reforming and partial oxidation of other liquid fossil fuels.

Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)

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Topic(s)

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Funding Scheme

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CSC - Cost-sharing contracts

Coordinator

FRAUNHOFER GESELLSCHAFT ZUR FORDERUNG DER ANGEWANDTEN FORSCHUNG E.V.*
EU contribution
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Address
Heidenhofstrasse 2
79110 FREIBURG (IN BREISGAU)
Germany

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Total cost

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Participants (2)

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