August 2007 Mechanical Engineering: Editorial

editorial

opportunities and challenges

By
John G. Falcioni,
Editor-in-Chief

If physics professor-turned-lawyer Sir William Robert Grove is recognized as the "father of the fuel cell," then Francis Thomas Bacon, a century later, in the mid-1900s, became the technology's guru. Bacon shepherded the first practical application of the highly efficient, pollution-free technology into Apollo space vehicles, which used alkaline fuel cells to provide in-flight power, heat, and clean drinking water.

For a few years following their successful role in the Apollo program, fuel cells took a hiatus from the limelight. Then, about 10 years ago, the technology again was poised to be the next big thing. But in the 1990s, fossil fuel was cheap and there was no urgency to switch energy conversion technologies.

Today, with prospects of peaking fossil fuel production, and limits on carbon gas emissions looming, we've begun to realize that we need to use petroleum, natural gas, and coal as efficiently and cleanly as possible.

Because fuel cells are not subject to the thermodynamic limits of efficiency that dog combustion-based energy conversion, they have the potential to bring far more useful work out of every ounce of fuel than existing engines and turbines can.

If they finally reach their potential, fuel cells can radically transform the world for the better. Because of the rapidly rising cost of oil and natural gas, and concerns about greenhouse emissions and hydrocarbon security, the fuel cell industry is undergoing a rebirth.

After decades of promises, the first commercial applications have begun to emerge on products not orbiting the Earth. Fuel cells are being used for backup power in hospitals, hotels, and at remote stations. And in this issue we write about a new membrane textured on the nanoscale that will let fuel cells triple the current they can carry ("Good Conduct").

While this is yet another exciting time in the world of fuel cells, it's important to understand that their applications are not yet fully developed, so you won't be able to wait on the corner ... and get on a fuel cell bus quite yet. Just as you cannot recharge a battery in five minutes, or roll out a plastic sheet of solar cells to power ... your home, or plug into the superconductor-enabled grid.

The good news is that the industry is making real products that do real work. What's more, fuel cells may one day help contribute to energy security and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Those technologies will be built on today's existing applications.

One person who is working to develop these applications is Nguyen Minh of the Hybrid Power Generation Systems Division of GE Energy in Torrance, Calif. Minh was on a team that developed and optimized the design of an integrated gasification fuel cell power plant that incorporates a solid oxide fuel cell/gas turbine hybrid system. The aim was to produce highly efficient, environmentally benign, and cost-effective electrical power from coal.

A few weeks ago, Edward Bacon, the son of Francis Thomas Bacon, traveled from his home in Britain to Brooklyn, N.Y., to present Nguyen Minh the 2007 Bacon Medal for excellence in fuel cell development. The elder Bacon, who died in 1992, was a direct descendant of Sir Nicholas Bacon—father of the famed English scientist and philosopher, Sir Francis Bacon.

Among his many famous quotations, Sir Francis Bacon said, "A wise man will make more opportunities than he finds." Good advice. And good advice for the fuel cell industry as well.