The development of a tubular proton exchange membrane fuel cells that has a higher current density than a planar cell using the same commercial five layer MEA and under the same operating conditions was studied. The cell performance was tested using a manual test station and an electronic load. An innovative strategy was adopted for the humidification of the tubular cell. The cell performance was tested over a wide range of reactant flows, temperatures, and pressures. The performance of the tubular fuel cell in this entire range of operating conditions was described. An EIS analysis of the tubular cell was performed to explain the performance of the cell. The loss mechanisms in a tubular fuel cell were presented. This is an abstract of a paper presented at the AIChE Annual Meeting (Salt Lake City, UT 11/4-9/2007).