Modeling, Development, and Testing of a 2 MW Polymeric Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Plant Fueled With Hydrogen From a Chlor-Alkali Industry

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Campanari ◽  
Giulio Guandalini ◽  
Jorg Coolegem ◽  
Jan ten Have ◽  
Patrick Hayes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Complete Analysis ◽  
Membrane Electrode ◽  
Polymeric Electrolyte ◽  
Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
The Impact

The chlor-alkali industry produces significant amounts of hydrogen as by-product which can potentially feed a polymeric electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell (FC) unit, whose electricity and heat production can cover part of the chemical plant consumptions yielding remarkable energy and emission savings. This work presents the modeling, development, and experimental results of a large-scale (2 MW) PEM fuel cell power plant installed at the premises of a chlor-alkali industry. It is first discussed an overview of project’s membrane-electrode assembly and fuel cell development for long life stationary applications, focusing on the design-for-manufacture process and related high-volume manufacturing routes. The work then discusses the modeling of the power plant, including a specific lumped model predicting FC stack behavior as a function of inlet stream conditions and power set point, according to regressed polarization curves. Cells’ performance decay versus lifetime reflects long-term stack test data, aiming to evidence the impact on overall energy balances and efficiency of the progression of lifetime. Balance of plant is modeled to simulate auxiliary consumptions, pressure drops, and components’ operating conditions. The model allows studying different operational strategies that maintain the power production during lifetime, minimizing efficiency losses, as well as to investigate the optimized operating setpoint of the plant at full load and during part-load operation. The last section of the paper discusses the experimental results, through a complete analysis of the plant performance after startup, including energy and mass balances and allowing to validate the model. Cumulated indicators over the first two years of operations regarding energy production, hydrogen consumption, and efficiency are also discussed.

Modeling, Development and Preliminary Testing of a 2 MW PEM Fuel Cell Plant Fueled With Hydrogen From a Chlor-Alkali Industry

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefano Campanari ◽  
Giulio Guandalini ◽  
Jorg Coolegem ◽  
Jan ten Have ◽  
Patrick Hayes ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Power Plant ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Market Potential ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Plant Performance ◽  
Complete Analysis ◽  
The Impact

The chlor-alkali industry produces significant amounts of hydrogen as byproduct and an interesting benefit can be obtained by feeding hydrogen to a PEM fuel cell unit, whose electricity and heat production can cover part of the chemical plant consumptions. The estimated potential of such application is up to 1100 MWel installed in the sole China, a country featuring a large presence of chlor-alkali plants. This work presents the modeling, development and first experimental results from field tests of a 2 MW PEM fuel cell power plant, built within the European project DEMCOPEM-2MW and installed in Yingkou, China as the current world’s largest PEM fuel cell installation. After a preliminary introduction to the market potential of PEM Fuel cells in the chlor-alkali industry, it is first discussed an overview of project’s MEA and fuel cell development for long life stationary applications, focusing on the design-for-manufacture process and the high-volume manufacturing route developed for the 2MW plant. The work then discusses the modeling of the power plant, including a specific lumped model predicting FC stack behavior as a function of inlet streams conditions and power set point, according to regressed polarization curves. Cells performance decay vs. lifetime reflects long-term stack test data, aiming to evidence the impact on overall energy balances and efficiency of the progression of lifetime. BOP is modeled to simulate auxiliaries consumption, pressure drops and components operating conditions. The model allows studying different operational strategies that maintain the power production during lifetime, minimizing efficiency losses; as well as to investigate the optimized operating setpoint of the plant at full load and during part-load operation. The last section of the paper discusses the experimental results, through a complete analysis of the plant performance after plant startup, including energy and mass balances and allowing to validate the model. Cumulated indicators over the first nine months of operations regarding energy production, hydrogen consumption and efficiency are also discussed.

Combining CFD and Stress Models for PEM Cells: Initial Development

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Martinez-Baca ◽  
Rowland Travis
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Single Channel ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Porous Electrodes ◽  
Membrane Electrode ◽  
Initial Development ◽  
Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
The Impact

The aim of this work is to determine the relationship between the operational characteristics of a Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cell, and the relevant materials issues and in particular mechanical stresses that develop. A three dimensional, non-isothernal, single phase model of a single channel PEM fuel cell is developed to investigate the impact of temperature variation on the Membrane Electrode Assembly (MEA). The model accounts for heat transfer in solids as well as in the multi-component mixture of gases, convection and diffusion of different species in the porous electrodes and the channels, electrochemical reactions and transport of water and ions through the PEM. This model has been numerically implemented in a commercial Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD), finite volume based code. Temperature contours derived from the model were then exported to a commercial Finite Element (FE) code to analyse the relevant mechanical issues of the PEM and in particular thermomechanical stresses that develop. Initial results verify that, even considering the polymer electrolyte membrane in isolation with mechanically free boundary conditions, there is a significant temperature difference leading to tensile stresses of up to 2.1 MPa within the membrane.

Modeling and Experimental Analyses of a Two-Cell Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Stack Emphasizing Individual Cell Characteristics

2008 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sang-Kyun Park ◽  
Song-Yul Choe
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Individual Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Fuel Cell Stack ◽  
Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
The Individual

Performance of individual cells in an operating polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell stack is different from each other because of inherent manufacturing tolerances of the cell components and unequal operating conditions for the individual cells. In this paper, first, effects of different operating conditions on performance of the individual cells in a two-cell PEM fuel cell stack have been experimentally investigated. The results of the experiments showed the presence of a voltage difference between the two cells that cannot be manipulated by operating conditions. The temperature of the supplying air among others predominantly influences the individual cell voltages. In addition, those effects are explored by using a dynamic model of a stack that has been developed. The model uses electrochemical voltage equations, dynamic water balance in the membrane, energy balance, and diffusion in the gas diffusion layer, reflecting a two-phase phenomenon of water. Major design parameters and an operating condition by conveying simulations have been changed to analyze sensitivity of the parameters on the performance, which is then compared with experimental results. It turns out that proton conductivity of the membrane in cells among others is the most influential parameter on the performance, which is fairly in line with the reading from the experimental results.

Lightweight System Design Optimization of High Reliability Compact Air Independent PEMFC Power Systems for Aerial and Space Vehicles

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Utz ◽  
Bob Wynne ◽  
Scott Ferguson ◽  
Mike Miller ◽  
Bob Sievers ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Energy Density ◽  
Power Systems ◽  
System Design ◽  
High Reliability ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Membrane Electrode ◽  
Fuel Cell Stack ◽  
Continuous Power

Demand has increased for high reliability mobile power systems for space and aerial vehicles in military, scientific, and commercial applications. Batteries have traditionally supplied power in these applications, but the desire to extend mission duration and expand vehicle capabilities would require an energy density increase that is difficult for batteries to achieve. The use of pure hydrogen and oxygen reactants with high efficiency membrane electrode assemblies and novel design concepts for the fuel cell stack bipolar plates and balance of plant (BOP) components has the potential to meet the desired system energy density. This paper reviews subsystem and integrated testing of a lightweight PEM fuel cell system design for implementation into an aerial vehicle or space mission. The PEM fuel cell stack is designed for optimum efficiency at 2 kWe of power during standard operation with the capacity to provide over 5 kWe of continuous power. The passive flow control and water management subsystems provide the gas flow and humidification necessary for efficient operation and remove excess water produced by the stack under all operating regimes. Work is in progress to test the fully integrated system under expected operating conditions for potential lightweight PEMFC applications.

Cold Pre-Compression Treatment of Gas Diffusion Electrode for PEM Fuel Cells

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shan Jia ◽  
Hongtan Liu
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Gas Diffusion ◽  
Gas Diffusion Electrode ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Cell Performance ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Overall Performance ◽  
Compression Treatment

In a PEM fuel cell, it has been shown that the compression under the land area is the main reason for the observed higher performance than that under channel areas. If the area under the channel can also benefit from such a compression the overall performance of the cell will increase. Since the areas under the channel are not directly compressed in an assembled fuel cell, it is the objective of this study to determine if a cold pre-compression treatment of the gas diffusion electrode (GDE) may have a significant positive effect on the overall performance of the cell. First, the GDE is cold pre-compressed to a level similar to the compression that would be experienced by the land areas in an assembled fuel cell. Then the pre-compressed GDE is assembled in a regular test fuel cell and the performances under various operating conditions are studied. Finally, the cell performance results are compared with the results obtained from a fuel cell with a regular GDE. The experimental results show that cold pre-compress of the GDE has significantly improved the overall performance of the fuel cell. Further experiments have also been conducted with five different levels of cold pre-compression to determine if there exists an optimal compression and its value if it exists. The experimental results show that the performance of the fuel cell first increases with the level of cold pre-compression, reaching a maximum and then decreases with the level of compression. These results clearly indicate that there indeed exists an optimal level of compression. Further studies using both cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) have further corroborated the cell performance findings as well as the underlying mechanism. The results of EIS indicate that the ohmic resistance is hardly affected by the cold pre-compression, while the charge transfer resistance is significantly affected, especially in high current density region. The CV results show that the electro-chemical area (ECA) is higher with the cold pre-compressed GDE and there is an optimal compression that results in the maximum ECA. Therefore, the experimental results have shown that (a) the cold pre-compression treatment of the GDE is an effective and simple technique to increase PEM fuel cell performances; (b) there exists an optimal compression level at which the cell reaches its maximum performance; and (c) the increased performance is due to the increase of ECA resulting from the cold pre-compression treatment.

High Performance Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cell Electrodes

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
N. Rajalakshmi ◽  
R. Rajini ◽  
K. S. Dhathathreyan
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
Gas Diffusion ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
The Other ◽  
Alternative Methods ◽  
Membrane Electrode ◽  
Fuel Cell Electrodes ◽  
Electrolyte Membrane

Several methods are being attempted to improve the performance of PEM Fuel cell electrodes so that the cost of the overall system can be brought down. The performance can be improved if the utilization of the catalyst in the electrode increases. One of the early successful method was to add a proton conducting polymer, such as NafionR to the catalyst layer. However there is a limit to the amount of NafionR that can be added as too much NafionR affect the gas diffusion. The other method is to increase the surface area of the catalyst used which has also been adequately demonstrated. Alternative methods for providing increased proton conductivity and catalyst utilization are thus of great interest, and a number of them have been investigated in the literature. One method that is being extensively investigated is to introduce the catalyst onto the polymer electrolyte membrane followed by lamination with gas diffusion electrode. In the present work, we have carried out two methods i) screen print the catalyst ink on the NafionR membrane ii) catalyze the NafionR membranes by reducing a suitable platinum salt on the membrane. Standard gas diffusion electrodes were then laminated onto this membrane. The performances of Membrane Electrode Assemblies (MEAs) prepared by these routes have been compared with the commercially available Gore catalysed membrane. It was observed that catalysed NafionR membranes show a better performance compared to the catalyst ink screen printed on the NafionR membrane and commercial Gore membrane under identical operating conditions. However MEAs with Gore membrane give a better performance in the iR region compared to the other MEAs prepared using NafionR membrane. The lesser performance with Gore membrane is probably due to the limitations in the lamination method employed.

scholarly journals Methanol Electrolysis for Hydrogen Production Using Polymer Electrolyte Membrane: A Mini-Review

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 5879
Author(s):  
Sethu Sundar Pethaiah ◽  
Kishor Kumar Sadasivuni ◽  
Arunkumar Jayakumar ◽  
Deepalekshmi Ponnamma ◽  
Chandra Sekhar Tiwary ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Polymer Electrolyte ◽  
Polymer Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
H2 Production ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Catalyst Loading ◽  
Membrane Electrode ◽  
Membrane Thickness ◽  
Electrolyte Membrane ◽  
The Impact

Hydrogen (H2) has attained significant benefits as an energy carrier due to its gross calorific value (GCV) and inherently clean operation. Thus, hydrogen as a fuel can lead to global sustainability. Conventional H2 production is predominantly through fossil fuels, and electrolysis is now identified to be most promising for H2 generation. This review describes the recent state of the art and challenges on ultra-pure H2 production through methanol electrolysis that incorporate polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM). It also discusses about the methanol electrochemical reforming catalysts as well as the impact of this process via PEM. The efficiency of H2 production depends on the different components of the PEM fuel cells, which are bipolar plates, current collector, and membrane electrode assembly. The efficiency also changes with the nature and type of the fuel, fuel/oxygen ratio, pressure, temperature, humidity, cell potential, and interfacial electronic level interaction between the redox levels of electrolyte and band gap edges of the semiconductor membranes. Diverse operating conditions such as concentration of methanol, cell temperature, catalyst loading, membrane thickness, and cell voltage that affect the performance are critically addressed. Comparison of various methanol electrolyzer systems are performed to validate the significance of methanol economy to match the future sustainable energy demands.

PEM Fuel Cell Electrodes Surface Defects Impact on the System Performance

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor M. Fontalvo ◽  
Danny Illera ◽  
Marco E. Sanjuan ◽  
Humberto A. Gomez
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Dynamic System ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Gas Diffusion ◽  
Cell System ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
System Response ◽  
Fuel Cell System ◽  
Free Process ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Fuel cell system manufacturing process is not a defect-free process, therefore, the impact of typical defects in the electrodes (i.e. Gas Diffusion Layer (GDL)) surface has to be taken into consideration when the fuel cell system is being designed. To assess the impact of the defect on the performance, two approaches were taken into consideration. Initially, the fuel cell system was simulated using a unidimensional (1D) dynamic model which took into consideration mass transfer, heat transfer, and electrochemical phenomena. The second approach was experimental, using a 5 sq.cm PEM fuel cell, the impact of the GDL porosity on the fuel cell system was studied. Also, the system response under different load changes was investigated. After that, experimental results are presented to give a better insight into the phenomena analyzed, mainly on the dynamic system response. Cracks and catalyst clusters were the main defects analyzed, both of them were observed in new membranes assemblies. To control the defects, new membranes assemblies were tested, and after that, defects were induced using Nafion solution and catalyst powder to emulate the presence of catalyst clusters. For the cracks, some fibers in the GDL cloth were cut to emulate the defect. Membranes now with defects were tested again to compare its performance and detect any performance loss due to the physical changes in the electrodes. Results indicate a strong correlation between the porosity and the supply air pressure and the system time constants. Also, the impact of the defects was evidenced in the dynamic system response, after step changes in the operating conditions.

A Study of Water and Oxygen Distributions in the Cathode Flow Channels of a PEM Fuel Cell

2006 ◽  
Author(s):  
Han-Sang Kim ◽  
Taehun Ha ◽  
Kyoungdoug Min
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Water Saturation ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Pem Fuel Cells ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Experimental Results ◽  
Fuel Cell Performance ◽  
Flow Channels

Water management is a critical operation issue for achieving the highest possible performance of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells. Quantitative determination of water and species distribution is needed to understand the water management and reactant distribution effects. In this study, the measurement of water and oxygen distributions along cathode flow channels was carried out using gas chromatography (GC). Generally, it is difficult to measure water distribution where water concentration is too high. Here, the measurement of high levels of water saturation in cathode channels was performed according to fuel cell operating conditions. GC measurement was also carried out for flooding and non-flooding conditions. To compare the experimental results with computational results, the three-dimensional CFD simulation of a unit fuel cell was performed using es-pemfc, which is the PEM fuel cell module of commercial CFD code STAR-CD. For the entrance of flow channel that has relatively lower level of water content, the calculated results showed good agreement with measured results. However, some discrepancy between calculated and experimental results was still found for the flow channels near the cathode outlet. The study provides the necessity of the development and adoption of a comprehensive multidimensional PEM fuel cell models including two-phase flow and cathode flooding phenomena for the optimization of fuel cell performance.

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