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Direct-ethanol fuel cell
Direct-ethanol fuel cells or DEFCs are a category of fuel cell in which ethanol is fed directly into the cell. They have been used as a model to investigate a range of fuel cell concepts including the use of PEM. Wikipedia
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This is an area where opportunity beckons.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Direct-ethanol_fuel_cell#Issues
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Issues
Platinum-based catalysts are expensive, so practical exploitation of ethanol as fuel for a PEM fuel cell requires a new catalyst. New nanostructured electrocatalysts (HYPERMEC by ACTA SpA for example) have been developed, which are based on non-noble metals, preferentially mixtures of Fe, Co, Ni at the anode, and Ni, Fe or Co alone at the cathode. With ethanol, power densities as high as 140 mW/cm2 at 0.5 V have been obtained at 25 °C with self-breathing cells containing commercial anion exchange membranes.[2] This catalyst does not contain any precious metals. In practice tiny metal particles are fixed onto a substrate in such a way that they produce a very active catalyst.
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Bio-Ethanol based fuel cells may improve the well-to-wheel balance of this biofuel because of the increased conversion rate of the fuel cell compared to the internal combustion engine. But real world figures may be only achieved in some years since the development of direct methanol and ethanol fuel cells is lagging behind hydrogen powered fuel cells.
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If the Carbon and Oxygen come from air, then a closed cycle is driven by the power input.
Where does the Hydrogen precursor come from?