Phosphoric Acid Fuel Cell - Advantages and Disadvantages

Advantages and Disadvantages

At an operating range of 150 to 200 °C, the expelled water can be converted to steam for air and water heating (combined heat and power). This potentially allows efficiency increases of up to 70%. PAFCs are CO₂-tolerant and even can tolerate a CO concentration of about 1.5 percent, which broadens the choice of fuels they can use. If gasoline is used, the sulfur must be removed. At lower temperatures phosphoric acid is a poor ionic conductor, and CO poisoning of the platinum electro-catalyst in the anode becomes severe. However, they are much less sensitive to CO than PEFCs and AFCs.

Disadvantages include rather low power density and aggressive electrolyte.