Running On Air

This article highlights that although much attention has been paid to fuel stream cleanliness, there has been little focus on the cleanliness of intake air, which is critical to proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell operation in two ways. First, air supplies the oxygen needed to complete the electrochemical reaction that produces electricity. Second, air carries water, a byproduct of the process, out of the fuel cell. Otherwise, water would flood the cell and prevent oxygen from doing its part. Los Alamos scientist Francisco Uribe believes that proton exchange membrane fuel cells are much more elegant than combustors, because they operate the way nature operates. Burning is an inefficient, brute-force method of extracting energy from fuel, but using electrochemical reactions to draw chemical energy out of the fuel is similar to what the human body does to get energy. Moreover, like the human body, a PEM cell can recover if it is exposed to fresh air after poisoning from certain contaminants, such as carbon monoxide.