Operational experience with the fuel processing system for fuel cell drives

Electric motor vehicle drive systems with polymer electrolyte fuel cells (PEFCs) for the conversion of chemical into electrical energy offer great advantages over internal combustion engines with respect to the emission of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides. Since the storage systems available for hydrogen, the “fuel” of the fuel cell, are insufficient, it is meaningful to produce the hydrogen on board the vehicle from a liquid energy carrier, such as methanol. At the Research Center Jülich such a drive system has been developed, which produces a hydrogen-rich gas from methanol and water, cleans this gas and converts it into electricity in a PEFC. This system and the operational experience on the basis of simulated and experimental results are presented here.