Experimental testing and parameter estimation of various macro - Kinetic schemes for DMFC

Abstract

The catalytic electro-oxidation of methanol in direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) has a complex mechanism involving various radical species, as well as stable intermediates, e.g., formaldehyde and formic acid, which are usually omitted in the operational analysis and modeling of DMFC. The compositions of various points the system is in direct contact with the environment during a DMFC operation have been studied. Methanol, formaldehyde and formic acid concentrations were measured off-line. Three kinetic models are presented, among which two models were statistically equivalent, giving both good fit on the experimental data. Possible derivations of these two kinetic schemes from the general radical mechanism are proposed, according to which the major mechanistic difference of these two kinetic schemes is on the role of CO during the complete oxidation of methanol to CO<inf>2</inf>. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the CHISA 2012 - 20th International Congress of Chemical and Process Engineering and PRES 2012 - 15th Conference PRES (Prague, Czech Republic 8/25-29/2012). © 2013 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.