University of Alberta Fueling Dreams of Grandeur: Fuel Cell Research and Development and the Pursuit of the Technological Panacea, 1940-2005 by Matthew Nicholas Eisler ff+\ A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of History and Classics Edmonton, Alberta Spring 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-45418-3 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-45418-3 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada Abstract The record of fuel cell research and development is one of the great enigmas in the history of science and technology. For years, this electrochemical power source, which combines hydrogen and oxygen to produce electricity and waste water, excited the imaginations of researchers in many countries. Because fuel cells directly convert chemical into electrical energy, people have long believed them exempt from the so- called Carnot cycle limitation on heat engines, which dictates that such devices must operate at less than 100 per cent efficiency owing to the randomization of energy as heat. Fuel cells have thus struck some scientists and engineers as the "magic bullet " of energy technologies. This dissertation explores why people have not been able to develop a cheap, durable commercial fuel cell despite more than 50 years of concerted effort since the end of Second World War. I argue this is so mainly because expectations have always been higher than the knowledge base. I investigate fuel cell research and development communities as central nodes of expectation generation. They have functioned as a nexus where the physical realities of fuel cell technology meet external factors, those political, economic and cultural pressures that create a "need" for a "miracle" power source. The unique economic exigencies of these communities have shaped distinct material practices that have done much to inform popular ideas of the capabilities of fuel cell technology. After the Second World War, the fuel cell was relatively unknown in industrial and governmental science and technology circles. Researchers in most leading industrialized countries, above all the United States, sought to raise the technology's profile through dramatic demonstrations in reductive circumstances, employing notional fuel cells using pure hydrogen and oxygen. Researchers paid less attention to cost and durability, concentrating on increasing power output, a criterion that could be met relatively easily in controlled conditions. While such demonstrations typically led to short-term investments in further research, they also generated expectations for long-lived and affordable fuel cells using hydrocarbons. However, developing commercial fuel cell technology was an expensive and arduous process, one that few sponsors were willing to support for long in the absence of rapid progress. Despite this mixed record, the fuel cell has become a powerful symbol of technological perfection that continues to inspire further research and dreams of energy plenitude. Acknowledgements This dissertation could not have been completed without the contributions of many people. Special thanks are due my supervisor, Robert W. Smith, for his tireless support over the years in manifold ways. I am also grateful to the members of my dissertation committee for their insight and support at various stages of this project: Greg Anderson, Stuart Leslie, David Marples and Susan Smith. Thanks are also due to those individuals for their help and advice throughout the writing process: Michael Geselowitz, Rik Nebeker, John Vardalas and Rob Colburn at the IEEE History Center; Allan Needell, Paul Ceruzzi, Michael Neufeld and Roger Launius at the National Air and Space Museum; David Johnson, David Lightner and Rick Szostak at the University of Alberta and Michael Egan at McMaster University; and the staffs of the Chemical Heritage Foundation library, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration headquarters archive and Churchill College Archives Centre. I'd also like to thank Erika Dyck, Angeles Espinaco-Virseda, Ay a Fujiwara, Roberta Lexier, Theresa Maillie, Carolee Pollock and Allan Rowe for their wit and wisdom over countless tea-breaks. Above all, I am grateful to my mother, Doris Wrench Eisler, and father, Felix Eisler, for their patience, counsel and tireless support, without which this project could not have been completed. I dedicate this dissertation to them. Glossary Alkaline fuel cell: a fuel cell employing an alkaline electrolyte, usually potassium hydroxide, and operating at around 200°C. Anode: the negatively charged electrode in a primary or fuel cell battery, the location of the de-electronation reaction in which a fuel substance is ionized, or stripped of electrons, which then enter into a circuit. In an electrolysis cell, the anode is the positive electrode. ARPA: Advanced Research Projects Agency. Created in 1958, this government agency sponsored defense-related basic research in the U.S. Cathode: the positively charged electrode in a primary or fuel cell battery, the location of the electronation reaction in which electrons released at the anode move through an external circuit. In an electrolysis cell, the cathode is the negative electrode. Catalyst: a substance that changes or accelerates a chemical reaction that is not itself permanently changed by the reaction. Current: the quantity of charge carriers (electrons or de-electronated atoms) that flow past a point in an electric circuit in a given time: the International System of Units (SI) unit of electric current is the ampere; an ampere is equal to the flow of one coulomb of charge per second. Current density: current per area or the rate of an electrochemical reaction; typically measured in milliamperes per square centimeter or amperes per square meter. Direct fuel cell: usually refers to a fuel cell system using a fuel that is directly introduced into the operating system with no prior processing. The term may refer to a hydrogen fuel cell but is generally understood to refer to a fuel cell that uses carbonaceous or hydrocarbon fuel that has not been converted into a hydrogen-rich gas. DSIR: Department of Scientific and Industrial Research. Established by the British government in 1915-1916, this funding agency supported academic scientific research and education as well as industrial research. Electro-oxidation: the ionization of hydrogen atoms and their combination with oxygen molecules in a fuel cell or battery, liberating electrons and producing waste water. Electrolyte: a chemical solid or liquid that conducts an electric current via ions moving in an electric field between electrodes in a battery or fuel cell. Energy density: the measure of the capacity of conventional galvanic batteries to store electricity relative to their volume and supply it for a given period of time. This is typically expressed in terms of watt-hours per liter. ERA: Electrical Research Association. A British industrial cooperative research organization founded in 1920. Fuel cell stack: a number of individual fuel cells clustered together to form an array. Within fuel cell communities, the term "stack" is preferred over "battery" to distinguish full-sized fuel cells from conventional galvanic batteries. HFI: Hydrogen Fuel Initative. Hydrogen fuel infrastructure program introduced by the Bush administration in 2003. IDA: Institute for Defense Analyses. Established in 1954 to supply systems analysis to the U.S. defense research and development community. Indirect fuel cell: refers to a fuel cell system coupled with a fuel reformer that converts a carbonaceous or hydrocarbon fuel into a hydrogen-rich fuel gas, which is then fed into the fuel