Advanced PEFC development for fuel cell powered vehicles

Vehicles equipped with fuel cells have been developed with much progress. Outcomes of such development efforts include a Toyota fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) using hydrogen as the fuel which was developed and introduced in 1996, followed by another Toyota FCEV using methanol as the fuel, developed and introduced in 1997. In those Toyota FCEVs, a fuel cell system is installed under the floor of each RAV4L, to sports utility vehicle. It has been found that the CO concentration in the reformed gas of methanol reformer can be reduced to 100 ppm in wide ranges of catalyst temperature and gas flow rate, by using the ruthenium (Ru) catalyst as the CO selective oxidizer, instead of the platinum (Pt) catalyst known from some time ago. It has been also found that a fuel cell performance equivalent to that with pure hydrogen can be ensured even in the reformed gas with the carbon monoxide (CO) concentration of 100 ppm, by using the Pt–Ru (platinum ruthenium alloy) electrocatalyst as the anode electrocatalyst of a polymer electrolyte fuel cell (PEFC), instead of the Pt electrocatalyst known from some time ago.