The eLearning Center for B.F. Environmental Consultants, Inc.

Overview

More people are driving more cars today than ever before. More than 200 million vehicles are on the road in the U.S. alone. But the car has contributed to our air and water pollution and forced us to rely on imported oil from the Middle East, helping to create a significant trade imbalance. Today many people think fuel cell technology will play a pivotal role in a new technological renaissance, just as the internal combustion engine vehicle revolutionized life at the beginning of the 20th century. Such innovation would have a global environmental and economic impact.

Hydrogen-powered fuel cells represent a radically different approach to energy conversion, one that could replace conventional power generation technologies like engines and turbines in applications such as automobiles and small power plants.

This course will review the design and theory of hydrogen based fuel cells. Expanded use of hydrogen as an energy carrier for America could help address concerns about energy security, global climate change, and air quality. Hydrogen can be derived from a variety of domestically available primary sources, including fossil fuels, renewables, and nuclear power. Another key benefit is that the by-products of conversion are generally benign for human health and the environment. Despite these compelling benefits, realization of a hydrogen economy faces multiple challenges. Unlike gasoline and natural gas, hydrogen has no existing, large-scale supporting infrastructure-and building one will require major investment. Although hydrogen production, storage, and delivery technologies are currently in commercial use by the chemical and refining industries, existing hydrogen storage and conversion technologies are still too costly for widespread use in energy applications.

The student must take a multiple-choice quiz consisting of eighteen (18) questions at the end of this course to obtain PDH credits.

Specific Knowledge or Skill Attained

This course reviews the following specific topics:

  · Polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell
  · Electrochemistry of fuel cells
  · Processing Hydrocarbon Fuels into Hydrogen
  · Reformate/air fuel cell "engine" utilizing liquid methanol as fuel
  · Direct methanol fuel cell technology
  · Regenerative Fuel Cell
  · Alkaline fuel cells
  · Phosphoric acid fuel cells
  · Molten carbonate fuel cells
  · Solid oxide fuel cells

State Board Acceptance

This course can be used by professional engineers to fulfill PDH requirements mandated by state and provincial licensing boards. Decatur Professional Development is an approved provider of continuing education in all states that pre-approve course providers. In all other states that mandate continuing education for engineers, it is the individual engineer's responsibility to determine the suitability of activities for PDH credit. The state boards typically accept online* courses that cover technical, managerial** or ethical content and which are relevant to the practice of engineering. The course must have a clear purpose or objective with a content that will maintain, improve or expand the skills and knowledge of the licensee's field of practice. For questions about your mandatory PDH requirements, visit the website of your state licensing board.

*Online courses are accepted by all state licensing boards that mandate continuing education. Other than New York (which limits online courses to 18 PDH) and Iowa (which limits online courses to 6 PDH), there are no limits placed by other states on the number of hours that can be earned through online continuing education. Consult with your state licensing board if you have any questions about the acceptability of online courses.

**The New York State Board of Engineers does not accept general office management courses, but will accept project management courses that are offered by an approved provider and that are technical in nature and contribute to the engineer's professional practice.

Please Note: Continuing Education credits for this course are awarded as PDH (Professional Development Hour Credits).