The future is green — or that is the plan. All over the globe answers are being sought and many have been found already that will reduce carbon emissions, reduce the use of toxic substances and promote overall environmental safety while meeting the increasing needs of growing populations in the developing world.
Interestingly, many technologies that were invented a long time ago and not pursued with gusto at the time have appeared again and proved to be “futuristic” in nature.
Fuel cells are one such example. The principle underlying fuel cells was first published in 1838, with the first working example making it into the news in 1843. In 1959 the British engineer Francis Bacon developed a successful stationary 5kW fuel cell. His design was later patented for use in the United States space programme to supply electricity and drinking water on board its space craft.
A fuel cell system running on hydrogen is usually lightweight and compact and has no major moving parts — already a boon when considering how parts of solar systems are regularly stolen, causing major setbacks in infrastructure delivery and financial losses to suppliers.
Furthermore, fuel cells do not involve combustion, making it much safer and almost 100% reliable. This means fuel cells in remote areas do not require round-the-clock, on-site maintenance. Measured reliability in existing installations has been shown to equate to about one minute of downtime in a six-year period — good news for anyone reliant on power.
The Vaal University of Technology (VUT) is developing a variety of fuel cells as affordable telephone facilities, used as an alternative source of energy in outlying areas. It is envisioned that these fuel cells could replace traditional batteries and solar panels at rural telecommunications sites.
One of the advantages of fuel cells over solar panels is that there is no seasonal drop in power generation, owing to periods of low solar radiation. As long as the fuel supply is properly managed, the supply of power will be stable.
These same fuel cells could be developed for other uses in rural communities.
Says Professor Christo Pienaar, who heads the research project at VUT: “There are a multitude of questions to be addressed, such as the economical supply of hydrogen, the control of the interface between cell and load and the robustness of the fuel cell to the climate extremes in South Africa.
“On a more practical level, a problem typical to South Africa is the ongoing theft of solar panels in rural telecommunications installations, which fuel cell installations would eliminate. The system we are working on is a hi-tech answer at a lower cost.
“Using fibre optics in the system would reduce the high copper theft rate and also do away with problems related to lightning strikes and power line interference.”
A laboratory model for a proposed fibre optic system is being built.
Pienaar says there are various types of fuel cells, including PEMs, or polymer electrolyte membrane cells, direct methanol fuel cells, alkaline fuel cells, those working with phosphoric acid, others that use molten carbonate and solid oxide fuel cells.
Hydrogen forms part of all these processes, either directly as the fuel used or as a byproduct of another fuel, such as methanol. As an adjunct, research is taking place into the generation and storage of hydrogen.
VUT’s research into zinc-air and methanol-based cells are at an advanced stage; prototypes are being put through their paces.
Pienaar says: “One of the main objectives now is to develop locally manufactured membranes and membrane electrode assemblies. The research to date is promising indeed and we believe a breakthrough in this area is imminent.”
With this increasing impetus towards the hydrogen economy so often propounded by United States President George W Bush, South African engineers are taking to heart the fact that it is cheaper, leaves no carbon footprint and is reliable. Local research is eminently able to find answers tailor-made to our conditions, develop our own applications and, at the same time, develop the skills necessary to maintain, manage and further expand these systems.