Critical assessment of power trains with fuel-cell systems and different fuels

Legal regulations (USA, EU) are a major driving force for intensifying technological developments with respect to the global automobile market. In the future, highly efficient vehicles with very low emission levels will include low-temperature fuel-cell systems (PEFC) as units of electric power trains. With alcohols, ether or hydrocarbons used as fuels for these new electric power trains, hydrogen as PEFC fuel has to be produced on board. These concepts including the direct use of methanol in fuel-cell systems, differ considerably in terms of both their development prospects and the results achieved so far. Based on process engineering analyses for net electricity generation in PEFC-powered power trains, as well as on assumptions for electric power trains and vehicle configurations, different fuel-cell performances and fuel processing units for octane, diesel, methanol, ethanol, propane and dimethylether have been evaluated as fuels. The possible benefits and key challenges for different solutions of power trains with fuel-cell systems/on-board hydrogen production and with direct methanol fuel-cell (DMFC) systems have been assessed. Locally, fuel-cell power trains are almost emission-free and, unlike battery-powered vehicles, their range is comparable to conventional vehicles. Therefore, they have application advantages cases of particularly stringent emission standards requiring zero emission. In comparison to internal combustion engines, using fuel-cell power trains can lead to clear reductions in primary energy demand and global, climate-relevant emissions providing the advantage of the efficiency of the hydrogen/air reaction in the fuel cell is not too drastically reduced by additional conversion steps of on-board hydrogen production, or by losses due to fuel supply provision.