On The Strategy To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions Of Crew Transfer Vessels: Towards Zero Emission Crew Transfer Operations

Due to more stringent greenhouse gas (GHG) emission regulations in the maritime industry, solutions are being sought to decrease the GHG emissions of crew transfer vessels used in offshore wind farms. Multiple alternative fuels and power generating systems can be used to decrease these emissions. In this research, a comparative study is...

An Investigation of Electric Propulsion in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles through a Variable-Fidelity Multidisciplinary Design Optimisation Approach

The medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) plays a key role in both military and civilian applications around the world. However, in a world where electric UAVs are increasingly becoming the norm, the MALE UAV is still primarily powered by hydrocarbon fuels and its design is very much constrained by existing general...

Exploring the Possibility of Using Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell for the Flexible Coproduction of Hydrogen and Power

Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that are conventionally used to convert the chemical energy of fuels into electricity while producing heat as a byproduct. High temperature fuel cells such as molten carbonate fuel cells and solid oxide fuel cells produce significant amounts of heat that can be used for internal reforming of fuels such...

Design and Testing of a Vertical Take-Off and Landing UAV Optimized for Carrying a Hydrogen Fuel Cell with a Pressure Tank

Flight endurance is still a bottleneck for many types of unmanned air vehicle (UAV) applications. While battery technology improves over the years, for flights that last an entire day, batteries are still insufficient. Hydrogen-powered fuel cells offer an interesting alternative but pose stringent requirements on the platform. The required...

The Effect of Magnetic Field on Catalytic Properties in Core-Shell Type Particles

Magnetic field effects can provide a handle on steering chemical reactions and manipulating yields. The presence of a magnetic field can influence the energy levels of the active species by interacting with their spin states. Here we demonstrate the effect of a magnetic field on the electrocatalytic processes taking place on platinum-based...

Vacuum membrane distillation for the production of ammonia fuel gas for solid oxide fuel cells: Influence of feed temperature and ammonia concentration on permeate quantity and quality

The influence of feed temperature and total ammonia nitrogen concentration on permeate quantity and quality in a vacuum membrane distillation process has been researched in order to determine the suitability of membrane distillation in an energy producing system including a solid oxide fuel cell.

Electrocatalytic Activity and Durability of Pt-Decorated Non-Covalently Functionalized Graphitic Structures

Carbon graphitic structures that differ in morphology, graphiticity and specific surface area were used as support for platinum for Oxygen Reduction Reaction (ORR) in low temperature fuel cells. Graphitic supports were first non-covalently functionalized with pyrene carboxylic acid (PCA) and, subsequently, platinum nanoparticles were nucleated...

Exergy analysis of the Car as Power Plant

The Master’s programme Industrial Ecology is jointly organised by Leiden University and Delft University of Technology. The Green Village, a project of the TU Delft, developed a solution for a new renewable energy system: The Car as Power Plant. The concept of the Car as Power Plant is that fuel cell cars not only can be used as an efficient and...

Modeling a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell using Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics: A Second Law analysis of assumptions and parameters

In this work, a model derived from Non-Equilibrium Thermodynamics, for the Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell, was utilized in order to explore the effect of the assumptions and the transport parameters in the consistency of the model; that is, the compliance of the model with the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This thesis begins with a short...

An Information Tool to Understand Innovation System and Technological Change in a Country

Innovation is considered to be the major force in economic growth. However, the processes are extremely complex and characterized with high level of uncertainty. How can we increase our understanding about innovation process? The core of modern thinking about innovation process is to understand what factors shaping and influencing innovation....

Stimulated-healing of proton exchange membrane fuel cell catalyst

Platinum nanoparticles, which are used as catalysts in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC), tend to degrade after long-term operation. We discriminate the following mechanisms of the degradation: poisoning, migration and coalescence, dissolution, and electrochemical Ostwald ripening. There are two ways to tackle this problem. The first...

Stimulated-healing of proton exchange membrane fuel cell catalyst

Platinum nanoparticles, which are used as catalysts in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC), tend to degrade after long-term operation. We discriminate the following mechanisms of the degradation: poisoning, migration and coalescence, dissolution, and electrochemical Ostwald ripening. There are two ways to tackle this problem. The first...

Charge carrier transport at the nanoscale: Electron and hole transport in self-assembled discotic liquid crystals: Mobile ionic charges in nanocomposite solid electrolytes

This thesis explores some fundamental aspects of charge carrier transport at the nanoscale. The study is divided in two parts. In the first part, the structural, dynamical and vibrational properties of discotic liquid crystals are studied in relation to the potential of these self-assembled ‘mesophases’ to form molecular conducting wires....

Nano LEGO®

Self-Assembly has predominantly been nature's unique tool for building remarkable entities. This thesis shows how this versatile tool can be utilised for building devices that are useful to mankind. Starting with advanced fuel cells which produce clean energy in a highly efficient way; continuing on to carbon nano networks which are one of the...

Direct Methanol Fuel Cell systems in portable electronics - a metrics-based conceptualization approach

It is impossible to imagine life without portable electronics like the laptop computer and cell phone. All these products are powered by a battery, granting them grid independence and all-round protability. Connectivity to the internet and an increase of functionality demands for a better battery. The d1irect methanol fuel cell (DMFC) system...

Towards a hydrogen-driven society? Calculations and neutron scattering on potential hydrogen storage materials

For sustainable development, the resources of the earth need to be maintained and carbon dioxide emission should be avoided. In particular, we need to find an alternative for the use of fossil fuels in vehicles. Since long, hydrogen has been recognised as the fuel of the future because it exhausts only water when used in fuel cells and hardly...

Novel H2 manufacturing routes. Simulation and thermodynamic analysis of membrane based processes

Nowadays hydrogen is gaining more and more attention mainly because it is generally regarded as an important future fuel. Although H2 can be produced from a wide variety of resources using a range of different technologies, natural gas is generally preferred and will remain in the near future the major feedstock for the manufacture of H2....