Direct Fuel Cell Performance using Dimethyl Ether Fuel

Abstract

Technologies necessary to produce dimethyl ether (DME) from low-quality coal have been pursued as a new project funded nationally in Japan. Methanol has long been studied as the most promising fuel for fuel cells used in transportation applications due to the ease with which this liquid fuel can be transported. But DME is the more attractive fuel due to its low toxicity and the fact that it has a higher energy density than methanol.
The present paper reports the findings of the first study ever conducted on the DME direct fuel cell. A DME direct fuel cell of 6×6cm² is demonstrated for the first time using a polymer electrolyte fuel cell. Similar to methanol, the DME cell performance is highly depend on the steam partial pressure of the fuel gas. Performance level of the cell was almost equal to that of a methanol direct fuel cell by increasing steam partial pressure of the DME by 1.5 times more than that of methanol.