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Re: Fuel Cells



Chuck Britton wrote:

Methanol is looking good as a fuel cell source for the H2.

Here is an interesting factoid about methanol: at normal temperatures
its vapor pressure is too low to safely carry a tank of it around---at
least in the kind of tank we currently have in our cars. For most
fuels, a fuel-air mixture will spontaneously ignite/explode if the fuel
component is between 10% and 90%. At the low end, there simply isn't
enough fuel. At the high end, there isn't enough oxygen. Gasoline is
safe because it has a high vapor pressure and makes up 95% or so of the
gas in the tank. This effect is what puts the upper limit on the
ethanol content in gasoline/ethanol mixtures.

(The fun things you learn at safety meetings!)