Essay On Hydrogen Fuel Cell

Introduction

The hydrogen fuel cell is device that generates electricity by a chemical reaction. It combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity, heat, and water. Every fuel cell has two electrodes, one positive and one negative, called, respectively, the anode and cathode. The reactions that produce electricity take place at the electrodes and charged particles are carried from one electrode to another through the use of an electrolyte. Much of the hydrogen and oxygen used in generating electricity ultimately combine to form a harmless by-product, namely water. The fuel cell will produce electricity as long as fuel (hydrogen) is supplied and never lose its charge.

More specifically, the fuel cell is a cars power plant. In it, hydrogen

If the hydrogen is produced from fossil fuels, some pollutants are produced (granted, less than in conventional petrol engines, but not altogether as clean as some motor companies would lead on).

• Furthermore the cost of construction of the processing plants needed to produce hydrogen would be exorbitant, due to hydrogen rarely existing as free hydrogen. It usually is bound to something else, like hydrogen in water or in natural gas. The hydrogen would then need to be trucked to the stations and stored in large above-ground tanks, another cost factor, that would all need to be functioning alongside standard petrol processing and delivering systems while a phase-out occurs. This ultimately means tax money will have to support two separate and functioning systems at the same time.

• With regards to costs, to be able to launch a sustainable retail launch of fuel cell electric cars, an entire retail fueling system is required. To date the only hydrogen fueling stations are available in California. This would cost billions to build in South Africa to ensure practical use of the vehicles. The current infrastructure for producing, delivering, and dispensing hydrogen to consumers will not be able to support widespread adoption of the