Comparison of ammonia and methanol applied indirectly in a hydrogen fuel cell

Abstract In this paper a comparison is presented between ammonia and methanol, applied indirectly in a hydrogen/air fuel cell. The calculations presented here concentrate on the specific energy of the carburants (amount of electricity produced per mass of fuel), specific energy of the carburants corrected for the mass and volume of the tank, and the overall energy efficiency (amount of electricity produced by one kilogramme of carburant divided by the amount of energy needed for the production of one kilogramme of this carburant). Taking into consideration the differences in efficiencies between the acid fuel cell and the alkaline fuel cells, the reformer temperatures, the reforming efficiencies and some ecological and economical considerations, it appears that ammonia is a more interesting fuel than methanol for certain applications.