ALTERNATIVE TECHNOLOGY

Presented By:
Robin K Francis
Kiran Chembilath

INTRODUCTION
Alternative technology is a term used by environmental advocates to refer to technologies
which are more environmentally friendly than the functionally equivalent technologies
dominant in current practice.
It is technology that, as an alternative to resource-intensive and wasteful industry, aims to
utilize resources sparingly, with minimum damage to the environment, at affordable cost and
with a possible degree of control over the processes. The term is, particularly related to the
importance of low cost and ease of maintenance for developing country applications.
Alternative technologies themselves are part of environmentalist politics. Common political
issues related to alternative technologies include whether they are practical for widespread
use; whether they are cost-effective; whether widespread adoption would produce negative
impacts on the economy, lifestyle or environment (production energy costs/pollutants); how
to encourage rapid adoption; whether public subsidies for adoption are appropriate; which
technologies government regulations should favor, if any, and how environmentally unsound
technologies and practices should be regulated; what technological research should be done
and how it should be funded; and which of a field of competing alternative technologies
should be pursued.
The term was coined by Peter Harper, one of the founders of the Centre for Alternative
Technology, North Wales, in Undercurrents (magazine) in the 1970s.
Some "alternative technologies" have in the past or may in the future become widely
adopted, after which they might no longer be considered "alternative." For example the use
of wind turbines to produce electricity. We can now analyze The use of Fuel Cell as an
Alternate Technology which has the scope to be widely used in future.

Alternate Technology
Alternative technologies include the following technologies like Anaerobic digestion,
Composting, Fuel cells, Solar panels, Mechanical biological treatment, Recycling, Urban car,
Wind generators etcFuel Cells are one of the main Alternative Technologies being used in
the modern world.

Fuel Cell
A fuel cell is an electrochemical conversion device. It produces electricity from fuel (on the
anode side) and an oxidant (on the cathode side), which react in the presence of an
electrolyte. The reactants flow into the cell, and the reaction products flow out of it, while the
electrolyte remains within it. Fuel cells can operate virtually continuously as long as the
necessary flows are maintained.
Fuel cells are different from electrochemical cell batteries in that they consume reactant,
which must be replenished, whereas batteries store electrical energy chemically in a closed
system. Additionally, while the electrodes within a battery react and change as a battery is
charged or discharged, a fuel cell's electrodes are catalytic and relatively stable.

Many combinations of fuel and oxidant are possible. A hydrogen cell uses hydrogen as fuel
and oxygen (usually from air) as oxidant. Other fuels include hydrocarbons and alcohols.
Other oxidants include air, chlorine and chlorine dioxide.

DESIGN
A fuel cell works by catalysis, separating the component electrons and protons of the
reactant fuel, and forcing the electrons to travel though a circuit, hence converting them to
electrical power. The catalyst typically comprises a platinum group metal or alloy. Another
catalytic process takes the electrons back in, combining them with the protons and the
oxidant to form waste products (typically simple compounds like water and carbon dioxide).
In the archetypal hydrogenoxygen proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) design, a
proton-conducting polymer membrane, (the electrolyte), separates the anode and cathode

sides. This was called a "solid polymer electrolyte fuel cell" (SPEFC) in the early 1970s,
before the proton exchange mechanism was well-understood. (Notice that "polymer
electrolyte membrane" and "proton exchange membrane" result in the same acronym.)

On the anode side, hydrogen diffuses to the anode catalyst where it later dissociates into
protons and electrons. These protons often react with oxidants causing them to become what
is commonly referred to as multi-facilitated proton membranes (MFPM). The protons are
conducted through the membrane to the cathode, but the electrons are forced to travel in an
external circuit (supplying power) because the membrane is electrically insulating. On the
cathode catalyst, oxygen molecules react with the electrons (which have traveled through the
external circuit) and protons to form water in this example, the only waste product, either
liquid or vapor.

EFFICIENCY
The efficiency of a fuel cell is dependent on the amount of power drawn from it. Drawing
more power means drawing more current, which increases the losses in the fuel cell. As a
general rule, the more power (current) drawn, the lower the efficiency. Most losses manifest
themselves as a voltage drop in the cell, so the efficiency of a cell is almost proportional to
its voltage. For this reason, it is common to show graphs of voltage versus current (so-called
polarization curves) for fuel cells. A typical cell running at 0.7 V has an efficiency of about
50%, meaning that 50% of the energy content of the hydrogen is converted into electrical
energy; the remaining 50% will be converted into heat. (Depending on the fuel cell system
design, some fuel might leave the system unreacted, constituting an additional loss.)
For a hydrogen cell operating at standard conditions with no reactant leaks, the efficiency is
equal to the cell voltage divided by 1.48 V, based on the enthalpy, or heating value, of the
reaction. For the same cell, the second law efficiency is equal to cell voltage divided by 1.23
V. (This voltage varies with fuel used, and quality and temperature of the cell.) The
difference between these numbers represents the difference between the reaction's enthalpy
and Gibbs free energy. This difference always appears as heat, along with any losses in
electrical conversion efficiency.

 FUEL CELL APPLICATIONS

Fuel cells are very useful as power sources in remote locations, such as spacecraft, remote
weather stations, large parks, rural locations, and in certain military applications. A fuel cell
system running on hydrogen can be compact and lightweight, and have no major moving
parts. Because fuel cells have no moving parts and do not involve combustion, in ideal
conditions they can achieve up to 99.9999% reliability. This equates to around one minute of
down time in a two year period.
A new application is micro combined heat and power, which is cogeneration for family
homes, office buildings and factories. The stationary fuel cell application generates constant
electric power (selling excess power back to the grid when it is not consumed), and at the
same time produces hot air and water from the waste heat. A lower fuel-to-electricity
conversion efficiency is tolerated (typically 15-20%), because most of the energy not
converted into electricity is utilized as heat. Some heat is lost with the exhaust gas just as in a
normal furnace, so the combined heat and power efficiency is still lower than 100%, typically
around 80%. In terms of exergy however, the process is inefficient, and one could do better
by maximizing the electricity generated and then using the electricity to drive a heat pump.
Phosphoric-acid fuel cells (PAFC) comprise the largest segment of existing CHP products
worldwide and can provide combined efficiencies close to 90%[20] (35-50% electric +
remainder as thermal) Molten-carbonate fuel cells have also been installed in these
applications, and solid-oxide fuel cell prototypes exist.
Since electrolyzer systems do not store fuel in themselves, but rather rely on external storage
units, they can be successfully applied in large-scale energy storage, rural areas being one
example. In this application, batteries would have to be largely oversized to meet the storage
demand, but fuel cells only need a larger storage unit (typically cheaper than an
electrochemical device).
One such pilot program is operating on Stuart Island in Washington State. There the Stuart
Island Energy Initiative has built a complete, closed-loop system: Solar panels power an
electrolyzer which makes hydrogen. The hydrogen is stored in a 500 gallon tank at 200 PSI,
and runs a ReliOn fuel cell to provide full electric back-up to the off-the-grid residence. The
SIEI website gives extensive technical details on it.

Suggested Applications for Fuel Cells

* Base load power plants
* Electric and hybrid vehicles.
* Auxiliary power
* Off-grid power supply
* Notebook computers for applications where AC charging may not be available
for weeks at a time.
* Portable charging docks for small electronics (e.g. a belt clip that charges your
cell phone or PDA).
* Smartphones with high power consumption due to large displays and additional
features like GPS might be equipped with micro fuel cells.

HYDROGEN TRANSPORTATION AND REFUELING

The first public hydrogen refueling station was opened in Reykjavk, Iceland in April 2003.
This station serves three buses built by DaimlerChrysler that are in service in the public
transport net of Reykjavk. The station produces the hydrogen it needs by itself, with an
electrolyzing unit (produced by Norsk Hydro), and does not need refilling: all that enters is
electricity and water. Royal Dutch Shell is also a partner in the project. The station has no
roof, in order to allow any leaked hydrogen to escape to the atmosphere.
The GM 1966 Electrovan was the automotive industry's first attempt at an automobile
powered by a hydrogen fuel cell. The Electrovan, which weighed more than twice as much as
a normal van, could travel up to 70mph for 30 seconds.
The 2001 Chrysler Natrium used its own on-board hydrogen processor. It produces hydrogen
for the fuel cell by reacting sodium borohydride fuel with Borax, both of which Chrysler
claimed were naturally occurring in great quantity in the United States. The hydrogen

produces electric power in the fuel cell for near-silent operation and a range of 300 miles
without impinging on passenger space. Chrysler also developed vehicles which separated
hydrogen from gasoline in the vehicle, the purpose being to reduce emissions without relying
on a nonexistent hydrogen infrastructure and to avoid large storage tanks.
In 2003 President George Bush proposed what is called the Hydrogen Fuel Initiative (HFI),
which was later implemented by legislation through the 2005 Energy Policy Act and the
2006 Advanced Energy Initiative. These aim at further developing hydrogen fuel cells and its
infrastructure technologies with the ultimate goal to produce fuel cell vehicles that are both
practical and cost-effective by 2020. Thus far the United States has contributed 1 billion
dollars to this project.
In 2005 the British firm Intelligent Energy produced the first ever working hydrogen run
motorcycle called the ENV (Emission Neutral Vehicle). The motorcycle holds enough fuel to
run for four hours, and to travel 100 miles in an urban area, at a top speed of 50 miles per
hour. It will cost around $6,000 Honda is also going to offer fuel-cell motorcycles.
There are numerous prototype or production cars and buses based on fuel cell technology
being researched or manufactured. Research is ongoing at a variety of motor car
manufacturers. Honda has announced the release of a hydrogen vehicle in 2008.
Boeing researchers and industry partners throughout Europe are planning to conduct
experimental flight tests in 2007 of a manned airplane powered only by a fuel cell and
lightweight batteries. The Fuel Cell Demonstrator Airplane research project was completed
recently and thorough systems integration testing is now under way in preparation for
upcoming ground and flight testing. The Boeing demonstrator uses a Proton Exchange
Membrane (PEM) fuel cell/lithium-ion battery hybrid system to power an electric motor,
which is coupled to a conventional propeller.
Fuel cell powered race vehicles, designed and built by university students from around the
world, competed in the world's first hydrogen race series called the 2008 Formula Zero
Championship, which began on August 22nd, 2008 in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. The next
race is in South Carolina in March 2009.

CONCLUSION
Before concluding, lets once again have a look on the main Benefits using Fuel cell
Technology. The main advantages are :

Fuel efficiencies of between 30% and 90% can be achieved by converting fuel
directly into electrical energy.

Fossil fuel combustion leads to byproducts that are known to damage the
environment. In fuel cell systems using hydrogen as the fuel, the only byproducts of
the electrochemical reaction are electricity, heat, and water.

Extracting fossil fuels from the earth comes with its own set of environmental
hazards, not found in the process associated with generating fuel cell hydrogen. The
environmental impact of fuel cell technology is pleasingly miniscule.

A fuel cell's simplicity of design, with no moving parts, offers the benefits of quiet
operation and reliability.

Hydrogen can be produced a number of ways domestically, relieving the stress of

overseas petrochemical dependence.

Use of Energy is increasing day by day. There is a limit to which we

can control the use of Energy without waste. So it is really important that we must develop
Alternate Technologies to generate Energy. This is where we must understand the
importance of focusing on alternate energy measures like fuel cells. China is the Worlds 2nd
largest producer of Energy. They have started a huge project on Fuel cell development and
Technology , which is to become the main Alternate Energy source for China. Its high time
that Developing countries like India focus on using such alternative technologies. Thus create
a Energy efficient and a brighter Nation..!