Technology+Required+for+Implementation

 Technology Required for Implementation by Tammy Le

Fuel cells depend on hydrogen, the simplest element on the periodic table and the most abundant gas in the known universe, making up about ninety percent of the universe and the third most plentiful element in earth’s atmosphere. It has no color, no odor, and no taste. Even though it is the lightest element, hydrogen is the most efficient with the highest energy content of all fuels. It has 52,000 Btu per pound, which is three times the amount of energy of a pound of gas. Hydrogen is a clean energy carrier that is safe to manufacture. The chemical energy of hydrogen can be controlled by pollution-free methods. The fuel cell power plants have so little emissions that in some parts of the United States, air permit requirements have been exempted. The demand for oil can be decreased by over eleven million barrels everyday by 2040 if hydrogen continues to be generated from different domestic resources.

In addition, oxygen is also need to provide energy for fuel cells, which can be acquired from the air. The great amount of hydrogen could provide an almost infinite amount of energy at a fairly low cost, but the fuel cell stack, or core, that converts the hydrogen and oxygen into electricity, is very costly to construct and maintain.

Hydrogen does not occur as a gas naturally on Earth, but it is always joined with other elements, such as water, which is hydrogen and oxygen combined. Hydrogen can also be found in organic compounds, such as hydrocarbons. The process of reforming separates hydrogen from the hydrocarbons using heat. This is the most popular way hydrogen is created. There are even some bacteria and algae that give off hydrogen under particular circumstances.

A fuel cell uses two electrodes that are split by an electrolyte, through the inverse of the process of electrolysis, which is when an electrical current is used to separate water into oxygen and hydrogen. Hydrogen is at the negative electrode, or the anode, and oxygen is at the positive electrode, or the cathode. The hydrogen is split into positively charged ions and negative electrons by a catalyst located at the anode. The protons move to the cathode, combining with the oxygen and producing water and heat. An electric current is produced when electrodes pick up electrons. A solitary fuel cell produces from 0.6 to 0.8 V, and high voltages are created by connected several fuel cells in a series.

If ten percent of United States cars used fuel cells, the emissions of air pollutants would decrease by about one million tons each year, and the releases of carbon dioxide would be reduced by sixty million tons each year. The use of fuel cell systems can be seen in the near future of technology and its advances.

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