Innovative biomass fuel cells using waste woody baimass directly as fuel

2018 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 17K19087
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Nuclear engineering, Earth resources engineering, Energy engineering, and related fields
• Research Institution: Nagoya University
• Principal Investigator: Hibino Takashi 名古屋大学, 環境学研究科, 教授 (10238321)
• Project Period (FY): 2017-06-30 – 2019-03-31
• Keywords: 木質バイオマス / 燃料電池 / 再生可能エネルギー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Biomass is of significant interest in the field of advanced energy engineering, including the use of woody biomass as an energy source. However, because cellulose;the major component of wood;is insoluble in most solvents, an excessive amount of energy and special procedures are required to convert woody materials into liquid and gaseous fuel. This report describes a biomass fuel cell that provides power densities on the order of 10 mW cm-2 by direct utilization of wood sawdust and pulp as fuel. The fuel cell is simple, with H3PO4-impregnated raw materials located at the anode, and is operated at temperatures between 75 and 250°C. Cellulose or its decomposition products reacted with H2O to form CO2, where the coulombic yield was approximately 95% at 150°C or higher.Notably, the cell performance was superior to that of fuel cells with fuels (partially oxidized or dehydrated mono- to tetrasaccharides) obtained by an external treatment of cellulose with H3PO4.

Free Research Field

環境化学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

従来のバイオマス利用は食用資源を原料としていたので、食料と競合し穀物市場の高騰を招いた。これを解決するために廃材や古紙等の木質資源を利用する、新たなバイオマス利用の開発が進められている。本研究では、廃材や古紙をダイレクトに燃料として利用し、1cm2当たり数十ミリワット級の燃料電池を開発する。同様な研究として、ヘテロポリ酸をredox媒体として使用した燃料電池が報告されているが、外側に設けた反応槽でヘテロポリ酸をバイオマス燃料で予め還元処理する必要があった。これに対して、本研究での手法は、木質資源をオルトリン酸に混ぜ、75から250℃で作動する燃料電池に供給するといったシンプルな方法である。