Process intensification and fuel cells using a Multi-Source Multi-Product approach

The development of fuel cells has seen rapid progress with the interest of car manufacturers for in particular in the polymer fuel cells at the end of the 1990s. But also other types of fuel cells have made important steps towards commercialization. This paper provides the state of the art of the most important fuel cell technologies and moreover provides new design concepts, integrated use of novel materials and how fuel cells can be integrated in the chemical industry and in larger energy providing systems using renewables. In this paper we follow two lines of discussion. The first deals with the need for more efficient fuel cells by improving material and component properties and the second deals with integration of various technologies and functions in a full systems approach. The first approach is more relevant for low temperature fuel cells while the second is more suited for new developments in high temperature fuel cells.