The Hydrogen fuel thread

[unclebilly]

Originally Posted by red-beard

Fuel cells are around 94% efficient while the best practical combined cycle is around 55%.

Maximum theoretical efficiency of a fuel cell is 80% at the cell level. The balance of plant (power conditioning, fans, preheating, humidification, etc.) is what kills it further.

The key is economies of scale with larger systems. On a small 5kw distributed generation system the best we could do was 30-40% overall efficiency and it was really load specific.

[flipper35]

Quick question for those that build these things. Are there any special or rare elements used in a hydrogen fuel cell? If so, where do we get them?