Showing papers on "Alcohol fuel published in 2014"
TL;DR: A detailed overview of recent results on alcohol combustion can be found in this paper, with a particular emphasis on butanols and other linear and branched members of the alcohol family, from methanol to hexanols.
676 citations
TL;DR: A comprehensive review of major research progress on technologies for converting biogas/methane into transportation fuels can be found in this paper, where the principles, kinetics, operating conditions, and performance of each technology are discussed.
Abstract: The discovery of abundant natural gas resources has greatly increased the study of using methane as a feedstock to produce transportation fuels. Biogas (primarily containing methane and CO2), which is generated from waste biomass via anaerobic digestion or landfills, is regarded as a renewable source of methane, and has the potential to achieve sustainable production of transportation fuels. Since biogas also contains a significant amount of impurities (e.g., H2S, NH3, and siloxane), a cleaning procedure is generally required prior to conversion to transportation fuels. Physical approaches, mainly compression and liquefaction, have been commercially applied to upgrade biogas to bio-compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied biogas (LBG). For chemical approaches, catalytic reforming is the dominant method for converting methane to syngas, followed by Fischer–Tropsch synthesis (FTS) or fermentation of syngas to a variety of alcohols (e.g., methanol, ethanol, and butanol) and liquid hydrocarbon fuels (e.g., gasoline, diesel, and jet fuels). High purity hydrogen, a clean fuel, can also be produced via reforming. Methanol can be produced by direct oxidation of methane, while interest in the biological conversion of methane to methanol has grown recently due to its mild operating conditions, high conversion efficiency, and potential for using raw biogas. The derived methanol can be further converted to gasoline via a methanol to gasoline (MTG) process. This paper provides a comprehensive review of major research progress on technologies for converting biogas/methane into transportation fuels, and discusses the principles, kinetics, operating conditions, and performance of each technology. Efficient direct conversion of biogas into ethanol and higher alcohol fuels (e.g. butanol), which is envisaged to be the focus of research pursuits in the near future, is also discussed, with emphasis on the development of methane-utilizing microbes through genetic engineering.
320 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the impact of water-in-diesel emulsion fuel on the performance and emission of diesel engines, micro-explosion phenomena especially the factors that affecting the onset and strength of microexplosion process, and proposed potential research area in W/D EMulsion fuel study.
Abstract: The need for more efficient energy usage and a less polluted environment are the prominent research areas that are currently being investigated by many researchers worldwide. Water-in-diesel emulsion fuel (W/D) is a promising alternative fuel that could fulfills such requests in that it can improve the combustion efficiency of a diesel engine and reduce harmful exhaust emission, especially nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). To date, there have been many W/D emulsion fuel studies, especially regarding performance, emissions and micro-explosion phenomena. This review paper gathers and discusses the recent advances in emulsion fuel studies in respect of the impact of W/D emulsion fuel on the performance and emission of diesel engines, micro-explosion phenomena especially the factors that affecting the onset and strength of micro-explosion process, and proposed potential research area in W/D emulsion fuel study. There is an inconsistency in the results reported from previous studies especially for the thermal efficiency, brake power, torque and specific fuel consumption. However, it is agreed by most of the studies that W/D does result in an improvement in these measurements when the total amount of diesel fuel in the emulsion is compared with that of the neat diesel fuel. NOx and PM exhaust gas emissions are greatly reduced by using the W/D emulsion fuel. Unburnt hydrocarbon (UHC) and carbon monoxide (CO) exhaust emissions are found to be increased by using the W/D emulsion fuel. The inconsistency of the experimental result can be related to the effects of the onset and the strength of the micro-explosion process. The factors that affect these measurements consist of the size of the dispersed water particle, droplet size of the emulsion, water-content in the emulsion, ambient temperature, ambient pressure, type and percentage of surfactant, type of diesel engine and engine operating conditions. Durability testing and developing the fuel production device that requires no/less surfactant are the potential research area that can be explored in future.
182 citations
TL;DR: In this article, an experimental investigation is carried out to study the effect of eucalyptus biodiesel and natural gas under dual fuel combustion mode on the performance and the exhaust emissions of a single cylinder DI diesel engine.
146 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, diesel fuel was mixed with biodiesel, biodiesel-alcohol, and biodiesel alcohol-vegetable oil blends using the basic alcohols of ethanol, methanol and butanol.
119 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of employing diethylether (DEE) as an additive for eliminating some drawbacks of natural gas in diesel engines were investigated. But, the use of DEE as additive leads to an improvement in brake thermal efficiency and specific energy consumption, while causing lower CO and NO emissions.
100 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a four cylinder, turbocharged, water cooled, DI diesel engine, equipped with a common rail injection system, was used to achieve almost smokeless emissions at lower injection pressure than diesel fuel.
89 citations
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: Corti et al. as discussed by the authors introduced the concept of methanol economy and discussed its status and perspectives, and analyzed the performance of direct alcohol feed fuel cells, whose components, operation modes and general performance are analyzed.
Abstract: Fuel cells are strongly linked to renewable energies, particularly to the so-called “Hydrogen Economy”. For decades the development of fuel cells able to convert hydrogen and oxygen in electrical energy with water as unique byproduct has motivated huge activity in fundamental and applied electrochemistry. In this chapter we introduce the concept of methanol economy and discuss its status and perspectives. To be a reality the methanol and other alcohol economies depend on the development of alcohol feed fuel cells, whose components, operation modes and general performance are analyzed. 1.1 World Energy Consumption: Current Status and Tendencies The Stone Age did not end for lack of stone, and the oil age will end long before the world runs out of oil. Sheikh Ahmed Yamani (former Saudi Arabia’s Oil Minister) The world energy consumption at the beginning of this decade was 12 billion tonnes of oil equivalent (toe), and 87 % is generated by burning fossil fuels (oil 33.7 %, natural gas 23.6 % and coal 29.7 %) [1], which are non-renewable and increase the CO2 content of the atmosphere, considered as the major man-made H.R. Corti (*) Departamento de Fı́sica de la Materia Condensada, Centro Atómico Constituyentes, CNEA, and INQUIMAE (Universidad de Buenos Aires – CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina e-mail: hrcorti@cnea.gov.ar E.R. Gonzalez Instituto de Quı́mica de São Carlos-USP, São Carlos, SP, Brazil e-mail: ernesto@iqsc.usp.br 1 Toe is defined as the amount of energy released when one tonne of crude oil is burned. It is equivalent to 41.87 GJ or 11.63 MWh. H.R. Corti and E.R. Gonzalez (eds.),Direct Alcohol Fuel Cells: Materials, Performance, Durability and Applications, DOI 10.1007/978-94-007-7708-8_1, © Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014 1 cause of global warming. Nuclear and hydro contributed with almost 12 %, while renewable accounted for only 1.3 % of the energy global demand. Certainly, there are countries with an energy matrix having a significant lower dependence of fossil fuel, like France with more than 80 % nuclear or Brazil with 35 % hydro. Around a half of the world energy demand corresponds to developed countries that originally signed the Convention on the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), including United States, Canada, Japan and European Community. An important fraction of the other half is consumed by Russia and the fast-developing countries; particularly China and India, being coal, the worst fossil fuel in terms of CO2 emissions, and the most vastly employed in these highly populated regions. An important fraction, close to 40 % of the fuel resources is used for power generation, while industry and transport demand around 30 % and 20 %, respectively [1, 2]. Projections of energy demands for the next decades is a subject that concerns oil-related industries [2–4], governments and energy planners. British Petroleum projections till 2030 [2] are summarized in Fig. 1.1, where the growth in energy demand is basically modulated by the growth of the population and gross domestic product (GDP), mainly due to the contribution of the non-OECD countries. By 2030, 1.3 billion more people will need energy; and the world income is expected to roughly double the 2011 level. The raise of fossil fuel prices to record levels in real terms over the past decade inevitably lead to supply responses, by development and deployment of new technologies across a range of energy sources. Thus, the “shale revolution”, first for gas and then for oil, will allow account for almost a fifth of the increase in global energy supply to 2030 [2]. Simultaneously, high prices for fossil fuels will also support the expansion of biomass renewable energy supply, accounting for 17 % of the increase in global energy supply by 2030. Hydro and nuclear together will 18
80 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparison of the exhaust emissions of a spark-ignited engine when operating on a blend of methanol, ethanol, or n-butanol with unleaded gasoline was performed.
Abstract: Air pollution is becoming a serious problem in many urban cities of the world and it can have a serious effect on both health and the environment. Although experimental studies have shown that alcohol fuels burn cleaner than unleaded gasoline and produce lesser emission, there is limited information regarding the comparison among the alcohol fuels as gasoline additive in spark-ignited engines. Therefore, a comparison has been performed in this experimental work on the exhaust emissions of a spark-ignited engine when operating on a blend of methanol, ethanol, or n-butanol with unleaded gasoline. Methanol, ethanol and n-butanol were added to unleaded gasoline by mass percent of 10% (denoted as M10, E10 and Bu10, respectively), and then tested in a four cylinder, four strokes spark-ignited engine. Although the experimental results show little differences in exhaust emissions between M10, E10, and Bu10, compared with Bu10, M10 and E10 have lower carbon monoxide emission and higher fuel consumption, hydrocarbo...
72 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the use of the fuel blends of biodiesel and JP-8 may be effective in improving the characteristics of biodiesels and it was found that NO x emissions increased with the increase of the amount of biodised fuel in the test fuels.
70 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the performance of a 4 cylinder (turbocharged and intercooled) 625kW gen-set diesel engine with hydrogen, producer gas (PG) and mixture of producer gas and hydrogen as secondary fuels is investigated.
TL;DR: In this article, a four-cylinder gasoline engine was tested with methanol, ethanol, propanol, and butanol as gasoline fuel alternatives, and the results showed that butanol was more effective than gasoline in terms of fuel properties, engine performance, and emissions.
Abstract: Alcohols are potential renewable alternatives for gasoline because of their bio-based origin. Although ethanol has been successfully implemented in many parts of the world, other alcohols may also be utilized, such as methanol, propanol, and butanol. These alcohols contain much energy and a high octane number. Furthermore, they displace petroleum. Therefore, this study focuses on methanol, ethanol, propanol, and butanol as gasoline fuel alternatives. We conducted tests in a four-cylinder gasoline engine under the wide open throttle condition at varying speeds and results. This engine was fueled with 20% methanol–80% gasoline (M20), 20% ethanol–80% gasoline (E20), 20% propanol–80% gasoline (P20), and 20% butanol–80% gasoline (B20). M20, E20, P20, and B20 displayed brake specific fuel consumptions levels and break thermal efficiencies that were higher than those of gasoline at 7.78%, 5.17%, 4.43%, and 1.95% and 3.6%, 2.15%, 0.7%, and 1.86%, respectively. P20 and B20 showed better torque than E20, but they consumed more fuel. Moreover, the alcohol–gasoline blends generated a higher peak in-cylinder pressure than pure gasoline. As gasoline fuel alternatives, propanol and butanol were more effective than gasoline in engines. In addition, the alcohol–gasoline blends also emitted less carbon monoxide and hydrocarbon than gasoline. However, E20 emitted more nitrogen oxide than the other alcohol–gasoline blends. Thus, propanol and butanol are more effective options than ethanol for a gasoline engine in terms of fuel properties, engine performance, and emissions.
TL;DR: In this article, a fuel-flexible fuel cell consisting of an alkaline anion exchange membrane, palladium anode, and platinum cathode was constructed, and the maximum power densities were achieved at 60°C.
Abstract: We constructed a fuel-flexible fuel cell consisting of an alkaline anion exchange membrane, palladium anode, and platinum cathode. When an alcohol fuel was used with potassium hydroxide added to the fuel stream and oxygen was the oxidant, the following maximum power densities were achieved at 60 °C: ethanol (128 mW cm−2), 1-propanol (101 mW cm−2), 2-propanol (40 mW cm−2), ethylene glycol (117 mW cm−2), glycerol (78 mW cm−2), and propylene glycol (75 mW cm−2). We also observed a maximum power density of 302 mW cm−2 when potassium formate was used as the fuel under the same conditions. However, when potassium hydroxide was removed from the fuel stream, the maximum power density with ethanol decreased to 9 mW cm−2 (using oxygen as oxidant), while with formate it only decreased to 120 mW cm−2 (using air as the oxidant). Variations in the performance of each fuel are discussed. This fuel-flexible fuel cell configuration is promising for a number of alcohol fuels. It is especially promising with potassium formate, since it does not require hydroxide added to the fuel stream for efficient operation.
TL;DR: Emissions from two flexible-fuel vehicles equipped with spark ignition engines were found to be clearly influenced by certain fuel parameters including oxygen content, hydrogen content, and aromatics content and emissions showed strong reductions with increasing alcohol content in gasoline.
Abstract: This study investigated the effects of higher ethanol blends and an isobutanol blend on the criteria emissions, fuel economy, gaseous toxic pollutants, and particulate emissions from two flexible-fuel vehicles equipped with spark ignition engines, with one wall-guided direct injection and one port fuel injection configuration. Both vehicles were tested over triplicate Federal Test Procedure (FTP) and Unified Cycles (UC) using a chassis dynamometer. Emissions of nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHC) and carbon monoxide (CO) showed some statistically significant reductions with higher alcohol fuels, while total hydrocarbons (THC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) did not show strong fuel effects. Acetaldehyde emissions exhibited sharp increases with higher ethanol blends for both vehicles, whereas butyraldehyde emissions showed higher emissions for the butanol blend relative to the ethanol blends at a statistically significant level. Particulate matter (PM) mass, number, and soot mass emissions showed strong reductions wi...
TL;DR: In this paper, an optimization tool of Microsoft Excel was used to find out the optimum blend with maximum heating value (MaxH), maximum research octane number (MaxR) and maximum petroleum displacement (MaxD) for a four cylinder gasoline engine.
TL;DR: In this article, a 2.0 L GDI engine was operated at lambda of 0.91 at typical loads for acceleration (2600 rpm, 8 bar BMEP) on three different fuels; an 87 anti-knock index (AKI) gasoline (E0), 30% ethanol blended with the 87 AKI fuel (E30), and 48% isobutanol blended with AKI Fuel (E31), and iBu48 was chosen to match the same fuel oxygen level as E30.
Abstract: Gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines can offer improved fuel economy and higher performance over their port fuelinjected (PFI) counterparts, and are now appearing in increasingly more U.S. and European vehicles. Small displacement, turbocharged GDI engines are replacing large displacement engines, particularly in light-duty trucks and sport utility vehicles, in order for manufacturers to meet more stringent fuel economy standards. GDI engines typically emit the most particulate matter (PM) during periods of rich operation such as start-up and acceleration, and emissions of air toxics are also more likely during this condition. A 2.0 L GDI engine was operated at lambda of 0.91 at typical loads for acceleration (2600 rpm, 8 bar BMEP) on three different fuels; an 87 anti-knock index (AKI) gasoline (E0), 30% ethanol blended with the 87 AKI fuel (E30), and 48% isobutanol blended with the 87 AKI fuel. E30 was chosen to maximize octane enhancement while minimizing ethanol-blend level and iBu48 was chosen to match the same fuel oxygen level as E30. Particle size and number, organic carbon and elemental carbon (OC/EC), soot HC speciation, and aldehydes and ketones were all analyzed during the experiment. A new method for soot HC speciation is introduced using a direct, thermal desorption/pyrolysis inlet for the gas chromatograph (GC). Results showed high levels of aromatic compounds were present in the PM, including downstream of the catalyst, and the aldehydes were dominated by the alcohol blending.
Journal Article•
TL;DR: In this article, the authors present fuel properties of butanol and simultaneously compare with the properties of gasoline and bioethanol, and also specify the advantages and disadvantages of its use both in mixtures and in its pure form.
Abstract: Currently, the focus of the research and development is devoted to the wider use of fuels of plant origin focused on the possibility of producing a higher quality and use of motor fuel other than bioethanol. BioButanol is thus not only a promising alternative fuel for gasoline, but also a possible replacement for bioethanol as a fuel for internal combustion engines for transportation. Butanol can be produced virtually with the same ingredients as bioethanol, but in terms of fuel property, it is a preferable alternative to bioethanol. The efficient technology for its production by direct fermentation of simple sugars by fermentation, enzymatic hydrolysis or modified polysaccharides is currently the subject of intensive research work. The paper presents fuel properties of butanol and simultaneously compared with the properties of gasoline and bioethanol. It also specifies the advantages and disadvantages of its use both in mixtures and in its pure form. The article also reviews the experimental analysis of emissions in the driving cycle fuel consumption of butanol. Mixtures of butanol - gasoline 5%, 30%, 50%, 85% and 100% were selected as a fuel without further additions as compared to the automotive gasoline and ethanolic E85. Switching to fuel based butanol in FFVs is not a technical problem, particularly based on the comparison with its demonstrable benefits over bioethanol. The development of renewable sources of carbohydrates from agricultural crops butanol can also help reduce imports of petroleum fuels in support of agriculture, availability of drinking water and an increase employment in the region.
TL;DR: In this paper, the effect of air humidity on the wear scar diameter was evaluated on a high frequency reciprocating rig at different vapor pressures, showing significant direct correlations for all test fuels.
TL;DR: In this article, the influence of physical and chemical properties of fuels' load range capacity in partially premixed combustion, seven fuels have been blended, with a fixed RON70 reactivity.
TL;DR: The catalyst system of Pt or Pd modified by Ni2 P in direct ethanol fuel cells was extended and both the highest activity and stability and discharge stability on both two catalysts was greatly improved over a 12 h discharge operation.
Abstract: Ethanol is an alternative fuel for direct alcohol fuel cells, in which the electrode materials are commonly based on Pt or Pd. Owing to the excellent promotion effect of Ni2P that was found in methanol oxidation, we extended the catalyst system of Pt or Pd modified by Ni2P in direct ethanol fuel cells. The Ni2P-promoted catalysts were compared to commercial catalysts as well as to reference catalysts promoted with only Ni or only P. Among the studied catalysts, Pt/C and Pd/C modified by Ni2P (30 wt%) showed both the highest activity and stability. Upon integration into the anode of a homemade direct ethanol fuel cell, the Pt-Ni2P/C-30% catalyst showed a maximum power density of 21 mWcm(-2), which is approximately two times higher than that of a commercial Pt/C catalyst. The Pd-Ni2P/C-30% catalyst exhibited a maximum power density of 90 mWcm(-2). This is approximately 1.5 times higher than that of a commercial Pd/C catalyst. The discharge stability on both two catalysts was also greatly improved over a 12 h discharge operation.
TL;DR: In this article, a single-cylinder research engine with a low and high compression ratio of 9.2:1 and 11.85:1 respectively was used to investigate spark-ignited combustion with 87 AKI E0 gasoline in its neat form.
Abstract: The present study experimentally investigates spark-ignited combustion with 87 AKI E0 gasoline in its neat form and in mid-level alcohol-gasoline blends with 24% vol./vol. iso-butanol-gasoline (IB24) and 30% vol./vol. ethanol-gasoline (E30). A single-cylinder research engine is used with a low and high compression ratio of 9.2:1 and 11.85:1 respectively. The engine is equipped with hydraulically actuated valves, laboratory intake air, and is capable of external exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). All fuels are operated to full-load conditions with =1, using both 0% and 15% external cooled EGR. The results demonstrate that higher octane number bio-fuels better utilize higher compression ratios with high stoichiometric torque capability. Specifically, the unique properties of ethanol enabled a doubling of the stoichiometric torque capability with the 11.85:1 compression ratio using E30 as compared to 87 AKI, up to 20 bar IMEPg at =1 (with 15% EGR, 18.5 bar with 0% EGR). EGR was shown to provide thermodynamic advantages with all fuels. The results demonstrate that E30 may further the downsizing and downspeeding of engines by achieving increased low speed torque, even with high compression ratios. The results suggest that at mid-level alcohol-gasoline blends, engine and vehicle optimization can offset the reduced fuel energy content of alcohol-gasoline more » blends, and likely reduce vehicle fuel consumption and tailpipe CO2 emissions. « less
TL;DR: Ethanol is a promising alternative fuel, due to its renewable biobased origin this paper, and it has lower carbon content than diesel fuel and it is oxygenated. For this reason, ethanol is providing remarka...
Abstract: Ethanol is a promising alternative fuel, due to its renewable biobased origin. Also, it has lower carbon content than diesel fuel and it is oxygenated. For this reason, ethanol is providing remarka...
01 Apr 2014
01 Apr 2014
TL;DR: In this article, a single-cylinder research engine with a low and high compression ratio of 9.2:1 and 11.85:1 respectively was used to investigate spark-ignited combustion with 87 AKI E0 gasoline in its neat form.
Abstract: The present study experimentally investigates spark-ignited combustion with 87 AKI E0 gasoline in its neat form and in mid-level alcohol-gasoline blends with 24% vol./vol. iso-butanol-gasoline (IB24) and 30% vol./vol. ethanol-gasoline (E30). A single-cylinder research engine is used with a low and high compression ratio of 9.2:1 and 11.85:1 respectively. The engine is equipped with hydraulically actuated valves, laboratory intake air, and is capable of external exhaust gas recirculation (EGR). All fuels are operated to full-load conditions with =1, using both 0% and 15% external cooled EGR. The results demonstrate that higher octane number bio-fuels better utilize higher compression ratios with high stoichiometric torque capability. Specifically, the unique properties of ethanol enabled a doubling of the stoichiometric torque capability with the 11.85:1 compression ratio using E30 as compared to 87 AKI, up to 20 bar IMEPg at =1 (with 15% EGR, 18.5 bar with 0% EGR). EGR was shown to provide thermodynamic advantages with all fuels. The results demonstrate that E30 may further the downsizing and downspeeding of engines by achieving increased low speed torque, even with high compression ratios. The results suggest that at mid-level alcohol-gasoline blends, engine and vehicle optimization can offset the reduced fuel energy content of alcohol-gasoline more » blends, and likely reduce vehicle fuel consumption and tailpipe CO2 emissions. « less
TL;DR: In this paper, a two-stroke engine with alcoholic fuel additive has been investigated experimentally, and the results show that the combustion internal irreversibility increases, which is due to the increase in temperature difference between burned combustion products and unburned mixture that occurs as a result of the rapid evaporation of the alcohol fuel additives.
Abstract: In the present work, exergy terms, irreversibilities, and the amounts of emissions in a two-stroke engine with alcoholic fuel additive have been investigated experimentally. The applied alcoholic additive is Ethanol which is combined with gasoline in different percentages of 5, 10, and 15 %. The experiments have been done for 2,500, 3,000, 3,500, and 4,500 (rpm). The results show that in most test cases where alcoholic fuel is used, the combustion internal irreversibility increases, which is due to the increase in temperature difference between burned combustion products and unburned mixture that occurs as a result of the rapid evaporation of the alcohol fuel additives. This is an important reason for second law efficiency reduction. But for the case of little additive percentage (5 %), it has a reverse effect which can be assumed as an advantage. The most outstanding result of using ethanol additive is that the production of pollutants such as HC, CO2, CO, and NO
x
has been significantly reduced in all test cases.
01 Jan 2014
TL;DR: In this article, the development of fuel cells able to convert hydrogen and oxygen in electrical energy with water as unique byproduct has motivated huge activity in fundamental and applied electrochemistry.
Abstract: Fuel cells are strongly linked to renewable energies, particularly to the so-called “Hydrogen Economy”. For decades the development of fuel cells able to convert hydrogen and oxygen in electrical energy with water as unique byproduct has motivated huge activity in fundamental and applied electrochemistry.
08 Dec 2014
TL;DR: In this paper, the role of carbon nanomaterials as anode catalysts for fuel cells is discussed and a review of the current status of support materials and role of Carbon as support in fuel cells are presented.
Abstract: KEY MATERIALS FOR LOW-TEMPERATURE FUEL CELLS: AN INTRODUCTION ALKALINE ANION EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELLS Fuel Cells PEM Fuel Cell Principles Alkaline Fuel Cells Summary CATALYST SUPPORT MATERIALS FOR PROTON EXCHANGE MEMBRANE FUEL CELLS Introduction Current Status of Support Materials and Role of Carbon as Support in Fuel Cells Novel Carbon Materials as Electrocatalyst Support for Fuel Cells Conductive Metal Oxide as Support Materials Metal Carbides and Metal Nitrides as Catalyst Supports Conducting Polymer as Support Materials for Fuel Cells Conducting Polymer-Grafted Carbon Materials 3M Nanostructured Thin Film as Support Materials for Fuel Cells Summary and Outlook ANODE CATALYSTS FOR LOW-TEMPERATURE DIRECT ALCOHOL FUEL CELLS Introduction Anode Catalysts for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells: Improved Performance of Binary and Ternary Catalysts Anode Catalysts for Direct Ethanol Fuel Cells: Break C-C Bond to Achieve Complete 12-Electron-Transfer Oxidation Anode Catalysts for Direct Polyol Fuel Cells (Ethylene Glycol, Glycerol): Cogenerate Electricity and Valuable Chemicals Based on Anion Exchange Membrane Platform Synthetic Methods of Metal Electrocatalysts Carbon Nanomaterials as Anode Catalyst Support Future Challenges and Opportunities MEMBRANES FOR DIRECT METHANOL FUEL CELLS Introduction Basic Principles of Direct Methanol Fuel Cell Operation Membranes for Direct Methanol Fuel Cells Membrane Properties Summary Conclusions HYDROXIDE EXCHANGE MEMBRANES AND IONOMERS Introduction Requirements Fabrications and Categories Structure and Properties of Cationic Functional Group Structure and Properties of Polymer Main Chain Structure and Properties of Chemical Cross-Linking Prospective MATERIALS FOR MICROBIAL FUEL CELLS Introduction MFC Configuration Anode Materials Cathode Separators Outlook BIOELECTROCHEMICAL SYSTEMS Bioelectrochemical Systems and Bioelectrocatalysis On the Nature of Microbial Bioelectrocatalysis Microbial Electron Transfer Mechanisms From Physiology to Technology: Microbial Bioelectrochemical Systems Applicatin Potential of BES Technology Characterization of BESs and Microbial Bioelectrocatalysts Conclusions MATERIALS FOR MICROFLUIDIC FUEL CELLS Introduction Fundamentals Membraneless LFFC Designs and the Materials in Use Fuel, Oxidant, and Electrolytes Conclusions PROGRESS IN ELECTROCATALYSTS FOR DIRECT ALCOHOL FUEL CELLS Introduction Developing an Effective Method to Prepare Electrocatalysts Electrocatalysts for ORR Electrocatalysts for MOR Electrocatalysts for Ethanol Electrooxidation Conclusions Index