An Introduction to
Fuel Cell Technology
and the Hydrogen Economy
By Gavin D. J. Harper
This presentation is extracted from a resource created for the
Royal Institution / Royal Academy of Engineering ‘Engineering Masterclass’ programme.
FEATURING IMAGES FROM ‘FUEL CELL PROJECTS FOR THE EVIL GENIUS’ AND ‘RUN YOUR DIESEL VEHICLE ON BIOFUELS’

What do we use energy for?
Where do we get our energy from today?
What is ‘renewable’ energy and how is it
different from ‘non‐renewable’ energy?

Hydrogen & Fuel Cells : Brief Introduction
First demonstrated by
Welsh scientist
Sir William Robert Grove in
February 1839.

Remember!
Catalysts are not used or consumed in
a reaction – a catalyst increases the
rate of a chemical reaction.

Image Take From New Scientist Magazine

Image Courtesy: PURE Energy Centre

Image Courtesy: PURE Energy Centre

Image Courtesy: PURE Energy Centre

Image Courtesy: PURE Energy Centre

•Burn liquid hydrocarbons
•Diesel
•Petrol
•Produce range of pollutants
•Produce “local” pollution
•Contribute to “climate change”
•Reliant on steady supply of oil
•Peak Oil
•Geopolitical Tensions

•Potentially clean energy source (if the hydrogen they use is clean!!!)
•“Zero Emissions” at point of use
•Still some challenges:
•Storage of Hydrogen
•Cost of Catalysts
•Mass Production
•Lack of Infrastructure

Shetland, Unst: The Energy Island
Image Courtesy: PURE Energy Centre

•Grid Independent Houses
•Hydrogen from Renewables
•Fuel Cell provides Combined
Heat and Power
Image Courtesy: PURE Energy Centre

Woking Park Leisure
Centre Uses a Fuel Cell
To Provide
Heat & Power
In ‘traditional’ power
station, the heat
produced as a by‐
product of electricity
production would be
wasted!

Fuel Cell CHP
‘Bolted on to existing
multi‐storey car‐park’
Supplies heat and power
to neighbouring hotel.
Savings in ‘plant room’
allowed them to add a
number of additional
rooms.

• Using the process called electrolysis, what can
we split water into?
• How can we produce Hydrogen?
• What does a fuel cell produce?

•Paperback: 196 pages
•Publisher: McGraw‐Hill/TAB Electronics
•Language: English
•ISBN‐10: 0071496599
•ISBN‐13: 978‐0071496599
You can find more experiments with Fuel Cells, information about clean
energy and information about how to take the learning in today’s
masterclass forward in ‘Fuel Cells Projects for the Evil Genius’.