High Performance Fuel Cells for Electricity Generation Using Plastic Waste and Coal as Fuels

In Hong Kong, about 1,866 tonnes of plastic waste is disposed of in landfills, daily [1]. The burning of plastic wastes in an incinerator could generate harmful gases such as dioxins, and the energy efficiency (for electricity generation) is in the

range of 13-24% only [2]. Since coal will continue to be an important fuel in China in coming decades, it is necessary and urgent to improve the energy efficiency of coal conversion.

In collaboration with Shenzhen University and Nanjing Technical University, Prof. Meng Ni’s team have developed high performance fuel cells for electricity generation using plastic waste and coal. When a suitable catalyst is used, the power output

of the fuel cell using plastic waste (green curves in Fig. 1) is comparable to that when using H2 fuel (black curves in Fig. 1) [3]. In another study, when an Ag-infiltrated Ni/(Y2O3)0.08(ZrO2)0.92 anode was used, the fuel cell was able to efficiently

convert the coal chemical energy into electricity (Figure 2) with a much higher power density than is achieved by other similar technologies (Figure 3) [4].

Prof. Meng NI’s research covers fuel cells, metal-air batteries, building energy, and the built environment.He is a Senior Editor for Sustainable Energy Technologies and Assessments(Elsevier)and a founding editor of Energy and AI(Elsevier). He is an active reviewer for over 70 journals, including Science and Nature Communications.

Have a read of Prof. Ni's profile : Prof Meng NI

References:

[1] Monitoring of solid waste in Hong Kong, waste statistics for 2013, Environmental Protection Department, Hong Kong SAR.
[2] T. Malkow, Novel and innovative pyrolysis and gasification technologies for energy efficient and environmentally sound MSW disposal, Waste Management, Vol.24, issue 1, 2004, pp. 53-79.
[3] W.Z. Cai, P.P. Liu, B. Chen, H.R. Xu, Z.J. Liu, Q. Zhou, F.Y. Yu, M.L. Liu, M.N.Chen, J. Liu,Meng Ni, Plastic waste fuelled solidoxide fuel cell system for power and carbon nanotube cogeneration,International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, Volume 44, Issue 3, 15 January 2019, pages 1867-1876.
[4] Heping Xie, Shuo Zhai, Bin Chen, Tao Liu, Yuan Zhang,Meng Ni, Zongping Shao, Coal pre treatment and Ag-infiltrated anode for high performance hybrid direct coal fuel cell, Applied Energy, Volume 260, 15 February 2020,Article 114197.