Electrooxidation of coconut oil in alkaline electrolyte

Abstract

Providing more and more energy is an essential task of the today's energetic industry. In the last few years, in addition to the traditional methods of energy production, alternative energy sources have been developing fast. One of the devices that can make use of these sources is a fuel cell. The fuel cells can be a power source of future mainly due to their high efficiency, low influence on environment and the possibility of powering with different fuels. Most often, fuel cells are powered by hydrogen. However, the problems with its cheap production and storage are the reason for the search for alternative fuels for fuel cells. It is important that the new fuel will be characterized by zero or low emission level. One of these fuels can be vegetable oil. The paper presents the measurements pertaining to electrooxidation of coconut oil emulsion on a smooth platinum electrode in an aqueous solution of KOH. The electrochemical measurements were performed in a glass cell with AMEL System 5000 potentiostat. The obtained maximum current density is equal to 25 mA/cm2. Therefore the coconut oil can be used as fuel for fuel cell provided that the temperature of process is kept above 303K.