A Project Based Lab Report

On

Study On Hydrogen Fuel Cell

Submitted By:
Amit Semwal(03720903619)
Gaurav Madhwal(03620903619)
Nitin Kumar(00120903619)
Prabhanshu Jha(03220903619)

Bachelor of Technology
In
Mechanical and Automation Engineering
(SEMESTER – VII)

G.B. Pant Government Engineering College

Okhla Phase III, Okhla Industrial Estate, Delhi 110020

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that Mr. Amit Semwal , Mr. Gaurav Madhwal, Mr.
Nitin Kumar and Mr. Prabhanshu Jha of SEMESTER VII studying
B.Tech in MAE has Satisfactorily completed The Study On Hydrogen
Fuel Cell during the Academic year 2022-2023.

Signature Of Project Guide

(Mr. D.K. Pathak)

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 ABSTRACT

We all know about the position of polluted environment in India. India

becoming the 5th most polluted country in the world. The use of
hydrocarbons in the auto industry remains the leading cause of pollution
in India. Increasing number of vehicles has led to the increase in pollution.
This is a problematic situation for future generations as this poisonous
polluted air harms the lungs of the populations causing severe health
problems.

The project focuses on using Green Hydrogen as a source of

alternate fuel in the vehicles. In this project, Water is used to extract
Hydrogen and further Hydrogen is burnt with fixed oxygen concentration
to produce energy. The whole combustion process does not include any
polluting substance as an exhaust gas. Only water will be flowing out of
the exhaust pipe.

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 INDEX

S.NO. TITLE Page No.

1. INTRODUCTION 5

2. AIM OF THE PROJECT 6

3. APPARATUS 7

4. PROCEDURE 8

5. OUTPUT 17

6. CONCLUSION 21

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 INTRODUCTION

The world is aware of the limit of hydrocarbon production and lack of

fossil fuel in the near future. Energy is a great concern or we could say a
global concern at this era. With lack of fuels like petrol and diesel, one
needs to find a renewable source of energy to sustain the life form. We
already know that the solar and hydro-energy are contributing a lot to
minimize the use of coal in making electricity. But let’s talk about the
automobile industry. Petrol,
diesel, CNG and LPG are
the majorly driven
automobiles in Indian
markets. Electric vehicles
have stepped in the markets
a few years age. Still the
electricity production is done using the non-renewable sources.

The need of an alternate fuel is still a question to us, solar energy being
one of the solutions to the question, we thought of another great alternate
fuel. Hydrogen driven cars, or Hydrogen Fuel Cells. We all know that
water is a great source of hydrogen.

Water comprises of 71% of total the total earth. This makes it an

incredible resource to be used as a fuel. Water has 2 hydrogen atoms with

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one oxygen atom bonded covalently to each other. Hydrogen is a highly
flammable gas and has a high calorific value. Thus, we can use energy by
combustion of hydrogen.

Hydrogen extraction from water plays an important role to increase the

efficiency of the system. We have used the process of electrolysis for the
same. Steel based electrodes are best to fulfill the purpose of experiment
because of high strength of material and less corrosive properties.

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 AIM

The main objective of this project is to provide an alternate fuel or

specifically use hydrogen for the energy generation, The hydrogen intake
is extracted from the Electrolysis of water itself.
There have been a lot of experiments of making a hydrogen fuel cell, this
project aims to find the efficiency of a system where hydrogen is first
extracted and then burnt to make usable energy. The focus of this project
is to extract hydrogen gas from the water with the help of electrolysis, and
find possible ways to use it as an alternate fuel for vehicle. This report
aims to study the electrolysis of water and trapping of anodic dispersion
of hydrogen. Unique apparatus selections comprise of plastic zip lock
boxes and used plastic bottles that do not weight more, and are way more
practical and cheaper in the industrial applications. The theoretical
experiment has been done ignoring the environmental parameters. The
practical model designing includes the manufacturing/selection of
different apparatus used.

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 APPARATUS

• Water
• Electrodes
• Battery 12V
• Wires
• Pressure Gauge
• Voltage Regulator IC
• Gas Can
• Containers for reactions.
• PVC tubes

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 PROCEDURE

Flow Chart:

• At Cathode
• 2H2O(l)+2e−→H2(g)
+ 2 OH−(aq) • Hydrogen Gas is stored in • 2H2+2O2--2H2O
Hydrogen Gas Cans at different Hydrogen • Thus there is only one
Electrolysis pressures like H70, H35, bi-product of the
• At Anode Storage H40 etc combustion reaction and that is
• 2 OH−(aq)→1/2 water.
O2(g)+ H2O(l) +2e−

Method used for extraction of hydrogen gas: -

Electrolysis is the process of using electricity to split water into hydrogen and
oxygen. This reaction takes place in a unit called an electrolyzer. Electrolyzer can
range in size from small, appliance-size equipment that is well-suited for small-scale
distributed hydrogen production to large-scale, central production facilities that
could be tied directly to renewable or
other non-greenhouse-gas-emitting
forms of electricity production.

Water molecule comprises of 2 atoms,

hydrogen and oxygen bonded
covalently to make a strong bond. This

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bond could be broken in the following ways:

1. Electrolysis of water
2. Photoelectrochemical water splitting
3. Photocatalytic water splitting
4. Radiolysis

How does Electrolysis work?

A DC electrical power source is connected to two electrodes, or two plates

(typically made from an inert metal such as platinum or iridium) which are
placed in the water. Hydrogen will appear at
the cathode (where electrons enter the water), and oxygen will appear at
the anode.
Chemical reaction: -
• At Anode:- (Oxidation)
2 H2O (l) → O2(g) + 4 H+ (aq) + 4e−

• At Cathode:- (Reduction)

2 H+ (aq) + 2e− → H2 (g)

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 Applications
➢ Global Distribution

Fuel cells boast both the range and power required for long-haul trucking and local
distribution. Companies like Nikola, Hyundai, Toyota, Kenworth, and UPS are
already building hydrogen powered semi-trucks and vans.

➢ Buses

Hydrogen power is being considered for other public transportation applications,

including hydrogen fuel cell buses. Several major cities including Chicago,
Vancouver, London, and Beijing have experimented with hydrogen powered buses.

➢ Trains

Hydrogen fuel cell trains have now appeared in Germany, and in the next five years,
other models are expected to come to Great Britain, France, Italy, Japan, South
Korea, and the United States.

➢ Personal Vehicles

Nine of the major auto manufacturers are developing hydrogen fuel cell electric
vehicles (HFCEVs) for personal use. Notable models include the Toyota Mirai,
Honda Clarity, Hyundai Nexo, and BMW I Hydrogen Next.

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 ➢ Planes

Several experimental projects like the Pathfinder and Helios prototypes have ex-
plored application of hydrogen fuel cells in aerospace. These long-range unmanned
vehicles utilized a hybrid system with hydrogen fuel cells which were replenished
by electrical power from solar arrays, allowing for theoretically indefinite day and
night continuous flight.

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Storage of Hydrogen

Despite the fact that hydrogen presents a high energy density superior to that of
conventional fuels, hydrogen is a gas difficult to compress as its compression also
demands high energy in order to store it for its use. Nowadays storage tanks for
hydrogen gas can be commercially bought for 350 and 700bar capacities. In its last
Hydrogen and Fuel Cells Program Plan [2], the U.S. Department of Energy reported
a novel “cryo-compressed” tank concept that achieved a system gravimetric capacity
of 5.4% by weight and a volumetric system capacity of approximately 31 g/L.
Nevertheless, the energy associated with compression and liquefaction needs to be
considered for compressed and liquid hydrogen technologies. Other systems based
on hydrogen absorbing materials and hydrogen compounds for storing hydrogen are
been studied but their energy density (both weight and volume) still needs to reach
competitive values to be considered a viable path especially for mobile applications.
Energy needed to extract hydrogen from some storage systems (for example solid-
state materials) as well as their life cycle (metal hydrides) also would need to be cost
competitive. Certainly, hydrogen storage is still a challenge for many hydrogen
applications which need yet to be addressed

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Efficiency

➢ Energy Produced when water is extracted

-286 KJ per mole.

Note the minus sign, it's a negative, indicating that 286 KJ (assuming perfect effi-
ciency and standard temperature and pressure) is consumed when one mole of water
is split into hydrogen and oxygen.

➢ Energy produced on combustion of hydrogen

“For the stoichiometric mixture, 2:1 hydrogen: oxygen, by volume at normal atmos-
pheric pressure, autoignition occurs at about 570 °C (1065 °F). ... When ignited, the
gas mixture converts to water vapor and releases energy, which sustains the reation:
241.8 kJ of energy (LHV) for every mole of H2 burned.”

A mole of hydrogen weighs 2 grams. So, this is a LHV (lower heating value) of
120.9 kJ/gram of hydrogen when heat of vaporization is subtracted. Now 2 moles of
H2 and one mole of O2 is 4 grams of hydrogen and 32 grams of oxygen which
produces 36 grams of water.

Reducing to lowest common denominator, this is 1 gram of hydrogen combines with

8 grams of oxygen to produce 9 cc of water. This releases at least 120.9 kJ of energy.
The higher heating value (HHV) of hydrogen is 141.8 kJ per gram of hydrogen.

The numerical difference between the LHV and HHV of a fuel is roughly equiva-
lent to the amount of latent heat of vaporization.

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Normalizing to a litre of water and using HHV for gases at STP (standard tempera-
ture and pressure)

1 litre → 15.759 MJ → 1,244.44 litres hydrogen gas, 111.11 grams (at STP) +
622.22 litres of oxygen gas, 888.88 grams (at STP).

If we start with LOX and LH2

Hydrogen 111.11 grams (liquid), 1.5873 litres + 888.88 grams (liquid), 0.7979 litres
→ 14.433 MJ → 1 litre of water.

❖ IDEAL APPARATUS

August Wilhelm Von Hoffman in 1866 designer an apparatus for the

electrolysis of water. The apparatus is consisting of three joined upright
cylinders, usually glass. The amount of electricity that has passed through the
system can then be determined from the volume of gas.

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 OUTPUT

After the process of Hydrolysis

➢ Before Turning on The Battery

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➢ After Turning on The Battery

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CONCLUSION

Now if a fuel cell is 85% efficient, and produces 15% of its energy as waste heat, it
is possible to use that heat to vaporise the LOX/LH2 while it cools the fuel cell.

So, a 15.759 MJ per kg of mass - we have quite an efficient system - even though
everything is closed cycle (I haven’t gone into the efficiencies of cryogenic cooling,
which affects efficiencies … but advances are coming in daily from this front.

So, this is driving research into closed cycle electric systems. There is also the
possibility of using atmospheric oxygen. This gets rid of most of the weight, and
increases energy density 9 times! 39,397.5 Watts/kg!!! Very efficient. However, you
will have to supply water in order to make more hydrogen - which you don’t need
with the closed cycle system.

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