Economic Utilisation of Biogas as a Renewable Fuel for Fuel Cell

In recent years focus has been changed towards using of biomass derived fuels in the fuel cells such as usage of syngas derived from gasification, coal mine gas derived from abandoned coal mines, biogas derived from biomethanation, methanol produced from renewable biomass feed stock and etc., in combination with the process of reforming. The problem lies in the poisoning effect of some of the components of syngas and biogas and other gases onto the catalyst and other components of fuel cell. This paper intends to address some of these problems and gives an idea to the usage of biomass derived fuels in the fuel cells for power production. In this study, worked out a gas cleanup mechanism and established a layout plan, where almost all the unwanted components are removed from biogas. The conclusion of the study states that the cost of fuel cell technology itself is very high at present when compared to the conventional CHP systems. Also biogas must be cleaned to a greater extent for its successful usage in power generation through fuel cell application