Proceedings of the
Second International Energy 2030 Conference,
November 4-5, 2008, Abu Dhabi, U.A.E.
Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC): A Teaching Experiment for Future Engineers
Paul Kalinowski
The Petroleum Institute, UAE
Afshin Goharzadeh
The Petroleum Institute, UAE
Arman Molki
The Petroleum Institute, UAE
Michael M. Ohadi
The Petroleum Institute, UAE
Abstract
One of the primary objectives of the Petroleum Institute is to prepare future engineers to address both
environmental issues and reduction in energy sources. With this in mind, an alternative energy laboratory
has been established to provide an essential vehicle to educate engineers on these topics. This laboratory
contains state-of-the-art hands on experiments related to sustainable energy and environmental issues. An
example of one of these experiments is the direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC). Fuel cells are considered as
a promising power source in portable and automotive applications [1-4]. This study outlines a low cost
experimental setup for characterization of a single commercial DMFC, which was designed and fabricated
