Chemistry: electrical current producing apparatus – product – and – Having living matter – e.g. – microorganism – etc.
Patent
1997-04-02
2000-06-13
Kalafut, Stephen
Chemistry: electrical current producing apparatus, product, and
Having living matter, e.g., microorganism, etc.
429 17, 429 19, H01M 816
Patent
active
060747692
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS
This application is a national stage of PCT/EP95/0399 filed Aug. 29, 1995 and based, in turn, upon German National Application P 44 30 750.0 filed Aug. 30, 1994 and European application 95 101 521.3 filed Feb. 4, 1995 under the International Convention.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method, as well as a systema for generating electric energy from regenerative biomass produced from plants, whereby in a reformer a crude gas containing hydrogen is produced, whereby in a crude gas processing device a purified fuel gas with a high hydrogen content is formed and whereby in a converter module with PEM fuel cells electric energy is generated from the purified fuel gas. The biomass can be produced from plants grown especially for this purpose. However the biomass can also be formed from vegetable waste material. The term "PEN" stands for "proton exchange membrane" and/or for "polymer-electrode membrane" which are synonyms.
2. Background of the Invention
PEM fuel cells as a basic construction have a polymer membrane membrane. On one side of the membrane cathodes membrane. Thereby on one side of the membrane the cathodes are formed and on the other side of the Membrane the anodes are provided. A cathode chamber and an anode chamber are assigned to the cathodes and anodes. A hydrogen-containing fuel gas is directed to the anode chamber and the hydrogen is oxidized to protons at the anode. The protons have a high nobility in the polymer membrane and travel to the cathode, where for instance atmospheric oxygen supplied to the cathode chamber is reduced to water. Since the polymer membrane is electrically insulated, based on this chemical process it is possible to pick up a direct current from the electrodes,, which optionally can be converted into a normal network alternating voltage. Further details about PEM fuel cells can be found in "Fuel Cells, a Handbook", K. Chinoshita, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif., USA, 1988, Chapter 6.2.
A method and a device using biomass for generating electrical energy are known from "Department of Energy (DOE), November 1992, DE 93000009". In the heretofore known method at first methanol is produced from the biomass. After that the methanol is converted in a reformer into hydrogen containing crude gas. In a crude gas processing device the carbon monoxide formed during conversion is removed from the crude gas, whereby no further use of the carbon monoxide takes place. The obtained purified fuel gas, freed from carbon monoxide, is finally converted into an electrical current in PEM fuel cells.
The disadvantages of the known process is that at first methanol has to be produced in an expensive manner from the biomass, that the carbon monoxide is lost to the electricity producing process in spite of its calorific value, and especially that there is no nodular construction with mutual adjustment and setting of the production parameters between the various modules.
OBJECT OF THE INVENTION
The a method which utilizes the energy content of the biomass to a greater extent and works reliably for a longer period of time, as well as to provide a system for implementing the improved method.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
This object is attained according to the invention in a method for generating electric energy from regenerative biomass, produced from plants, particularly a biomass from perennial C.sub.4 -plants, whereby biomass is produced in a biomass production module, whereby in a reformer module the biomass is converted into a crude gas containing hydrogen, whereby in a crude gas processing module a fuel gas with high hydrogen content is formed from the crude gas and whereby in a converter module electric energy is generated from the purified fuel gas, with the following combination of features: chlorine contents is produced by suitably fertilizing the plants, which steam is supplied as a gasifying agent, the dwelling time of the biomass and/or of the crude gas in the reformer, the pressure and the temperature in the
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Dubno Herbert
Hannelore Binsmaier Nee Gallin-Ast
Kalafut Stephen
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