The first alcohol engine to revolutionize mobility

Researchers from the University of Central Florida (UCF) have just been able to get huge success in fuel cells (FC) technology recently. Shown which way to go is they have devised a highly-effective ethanol-based fuel cell that could turn on its ears all transportation and mobility as we know them.

In contrast to most fuel cells whose primary fuel source is the common hydrogen, this device works on ethanol which is not scarce nor unrenewable. Ethanol-powered cell designs have been actively researched for very many years, but earlier designs have been affected with some critical limitations that checked their widespread usage.

The team of the UCF succeeded in establishing technical solutions using alternative method which was completed through practical work. This fuel cells operates at room temperature and it feature without a doubt best performance level comparable to hydrogen fuel cells top performance.

Vehicles with an electrical range of more than 800km per tank and refuelling that takes just a few minutes could be operating without producing any greenhouse gas emissions thanks to this quantum leap in ethanol fuel cell capabilities.

At the University of Central Florida, scientists come up with a revolutionary fuel cell ethanol technology which has a special kind of electrocatalyst that generates electric current after ethanol conversion process. Unlike hydrogen fuel cells that primarily serve as the fuel source, these operate on a diverse range of fuel sources.

Cation contains carbon nanoparticles with platinum atoms decorating it. Ethanol on the contrary is subjected to ionization in the presence of platinum catalysis that renders it into carbon dioxide and electrons. The free electrons spontaneously create a kind of current that is capacitated and can drive appliances and electric motors.

Ethanol fuel storage tanks are not subjected to pressurized hydrogen as in other fuel cell approaches. This ensures less space usage of the storage tanks. Ethanol, like hydrogen, is easier to manage since its lack of sophistication. Don´t forget (we have seen it) that platinum-carbon electrocatalyst is more efficient.

In a nutshell, what this innovation ignites is a new ethanol fuel cell that is able to match or surpass the power density of hydrogen fuel cells, and at the same time, enjoy the benefits of ethanol due to its high energy density and ease of storage.

Through the testing the ethanol furnace cell has already established the maximum of 135mW/cm² power density. Analogously, juice outlet capacity is higher than that of direct ethanol fuel cells and even surpasses the power storage capabilities of many commercial lithium-ion batteries applied in electric cars.

Ethanol-fuel cell operates through the process of ethanol fuel conversion to electricity with efficiency of about 50-60%. However, iconversion to hydrogen reduces energy loss, but conversion to HCEVs is not as effective as that of the overall efficiency percentage of direct ethanol fuel cells (90-95%).

The primary a cell has showed consistent operation at over 250 hours during testing confirming sustainability of the reaction. The researchers predict a lifetime of much more than 10,000 charge cycles and nearly reaching the lifetime of Li-ion batteries.

As you can see, this alcohol engine is intended to be the definitive boost to a fuel that many consider undervalued, as is also the case with hydrogen. However, we wanted to present it to you because it is one more alternative that demonstrates how many zero-emission options we have, so that gasoline and diesel, like gas, have their days numbered in all of America.