Pafc Fuel Cell

The united technology corporation developed and placed a number of pafc based 50 200 kw range power units in operation for stationary power applications in the united states and overseas.

Pafc fuel cell.

This type of fuel cell is typically used for stationary power generation but some pafcs have been used to power large vehicles such as city buses. Most fuel cell units sold before 2001 used pafc technology. Phosphoric acid fuel cells pafc are a type of fuel cell that uses liquid phosphoric acid as an electrolyte they were the first fuel cells to be commercialized. These cells commonly work in temperatures of 150 to 200 degrees celsius.

It is one of the most mature cell types and the first to be used commercially. A phosphoric acid fuel cell pafc is composed of two porous gas diffusion electrodes namely cathode and anode juxtaposed against a porous electrolyte matrix. Phosphoric acid fuel cell pafc is the most commercially advanced technology among the hydrogen oxygen fuel cells. The gas diffusion electrodes are composed of a porous substrate carbon or cloth facing the gas feed and a reactive catalyst layer consisting of platinized fine carbon powder facing.

Research on the high temperature hydrogen fuel cell began in the 1960s leading to the development of pafcs. Phosphoric acid fuel cell pafc phosphoric acid fuel cells pafc were first designed and introduced in 1961 by g. In these cells phosphoric acid is used as a non conductive electrolyte to pass positive hydrogen ions from the anode to the cathode. Developed in the mid 1960s and field tested since the 1970s they have improved significantly in stability performance and cost.

Pafc was the first fuel cell to cross the commercial threshold. The pafc differs from other fuel cell technologies mainly on the basis of the electrolyte used and the method of. It has an electrolyte made of phosphoric acid its electrodes are mainly composed of carbon materials and it operates at temperature between 180 c and 210 c. The pafc is considered the first generation of modern fuel cells.

This type of fuel cell is used in stationary power generators with output in the 100 kw to 400 kw range to power many commercial premises around the world and they are also finding application in large vehicles such as buses.