Poster Presentation 15
Study of glycerol for use as renewable biomass fuel in ironion/glycerol redox flow battery
James Akrasi, Egwu Kalu and Yaw Yeboah
FAMU-FSU College of Engineering
Department of Chemical and Biomedical Engineering, Tallahassee, Florida. 32310
Abstract
The need to reduce the global emissions associated with use of fossil based fuels is a key driver in the
development of clean and renewable alternatives. Hydrogen gas which is used in the conventional iron ionhydrogen redox flow battery; and the main fuel of consideration for the hydrogen economy is not readily
available and is reformed from other fossil sources. For this reason, it has become imperative to find renewable
alternatives to its use.
The electrochemical oxidation of glycerol has been studied and known to be a source of several chemicals of
premium industrial value and has also been utilized in the concept of direct glycerol fuel cells to produce
electrical energy additionally. In the current study however, this concept is extended to cover both
electrochemical oxidation and reduction of glycerol as a substitute for the hydrogen ion in redox flow battery
with a Fe2+/Fe3+ couple as cathode. A conceptual Iron-ion/Glycerol redox flow battery is proposed and its
feasibility during discharge evaluated for the cases of partial, and complete oxidation of glycerol to mesoxalic
acid, tartronic acid, glyceraldehyde and carbon dioxide, respectively. This is based on a predictive
thermodynamic study, through the establishment of the minimum electric potential (E0) required to drive the
half-reac