Design and Performance Analysis of a 1 MW Solid Oxide Fuel Cell System for Combined Production of Heat, Hydrogen, and Power

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
William L. Becker ◽  
Robert J. Braun ◽  
Michael Penev
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Hydrogen Production ◽  
Capital Investment ◽  
Energy Requirement ◽  
Unit Cost ◽  
Hydrogen Separation ◽  
Hydrogen Gas ◽  
Performance Estimation ◽  
Pure Hydrogen ◽  
And Performance

SOFC systems with co-generation exhibit high overall efficiency. Fuel cell-based co-generation studies have typically focused on electricity and heat; pure hydrogen gas can also be generated in these systems as an energy co-product resulting in the combined production of heat, hydrogen, and power (CHHP). Co-locating a distributed generation SOFC CHHP plant with fueling stations for fuel cell vehicles enables use of lower scale (200 kg/day) hydrogen production and leverages the capital investment among all co-products, thereby lowering the unit cost of hydrogen and offering a potentially promising transition pathway to a hydrogen economy. This work focuses on the design and performance estimation of a methane-fueled 1 MW SOFC CHHP system operating at steady-state. System design and modeling are carried out employing Aspen Plus™ software where performance characteristics of the SOFC and the balance-of-plant are estimated from industry and literature sources. Analysis of the SOFC CHHP system indicates that the SOFC electrochemical performance is independent of the heat recovery and hydrogen production processes because the latter two subsystems are downstream of the SOFC power module. The system is configured such that it can preferentially produce hydrogen or low-temperature thermal energy (80 °C) as needed. Two methods of hydrogen purification and recovery from the SOFC tail-gas were analyzed: pressure swing adsorption (PSA) and electrochemical hydrogen separation (EHS). The recovered hydrogen is compressed to 425 bar for storage. The SOFC electrical efficiency at rated power is estimated at 48.1% (LHV) and the overall CHHP efficiency is 84.4% (LHV) for the EHS design concept. The amount of hydrogen recovery (85–90%) with EHS is higher than PSA for typical SOFC effluent gas compositions. The hydrogen separation energy requirement of 2.7 kWh/kg H2 for EHS is found to be about three times lower than PSA in this system. Increasing the amount of hydrogen production can be independently controlled by flowing excess methane into the system, effectively decreasing SOFC fuel utilization yet still reforming the fuel to a hydrogen-rich syngas. A case study for hydrogen overproduction is given. Operating the system to produce excess hydrogen increases the efficiency for both hydrogen separation design concepts.

scholarly journals Preliminary Analysis of Hydrogen Production Integrated with Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

2020 ◽  
Vol 141 ◽  
pp. 01009
Author(s):  
Lida Simasatitkul ◽  
Suksun Amornraksa ◽  
Natcha Wangprasert ◽  
Thanaporn Wongjirasavat
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Hydrogen Production ◽  
Steam Reforming ◽  
Proton Exchange Membrane ◽  
Hydrogen Gas ◽  
Proton Exchange ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
High Price ◽  
Pure Hydrogen ◽  
Exchange Membrane

Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is an interesting option for electricity generation. However, the usage of pure hydrogen feeding to PEMFC faces many problems such as high price and gas storage capacity. On-board fuel processor integrated with PEMFC is therefore a more preferable option. Two hydrogen production processes from crude ethanol feed, a by-product of fermentation of corn stover, integrated with PEMFC were developed and proposed. They are steam reforming (SR) process integrated with PEMFC and steam reforming process coupled with a CO preferential oxidation (COPROX) reactor with PEMFC. The results showed that the optimal operating conditions for both processes were similar i.e. S/F ratio of 9, WGS reactor temperature of 250oC and membrane area of 0.6 m2. However, the optimal SR temperature of both processes were different i.e. 500oC and 460oC. Both processes produced pure hydrogen gas at 0.53 mol/s. The energy requirement of the SR process alone was higher than SR process coupled with a COPROX about 0.19 MW. The produced hydrogen gas entered PEMFC at current density of 1.1 A cm-2, generating the power at of 0.44 W cm-2.

Techno-economic Assessment of Membrane Reactor Technologies for Pure Hydrogen Production for Fuel Cell Vehicle Fleets

2013 ◽  
Vol 27 (8) ◽  
pp. 4423-4431 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leonardo Roses ◽  
Giampaolo Manzolini ◽  
Stefano Campanari ◽  
Ellart De Wit ◽  
Michael Walter
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Hydrogen Production ◽  
Membrane Reactor ◽  
Economic Assessment ◽  
Fuel Cell Vehicle ◽  
Pure Hydrogen

I-V Characteristic and Performance of Three Electrode Alkaline Electrolyzer

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diwakar Kafle ◽  
Sushil Dumre ◽  
Saroj Tripathi ◽  
Shankar Shrestha
Keyword(s):  
Hydrogen Production ◽  
Electricity Consumption ◽  
Cost Effective ◽  
Hydrogen Gas ◽  
Voltage Source ◽  
Promising Technique ◽  
Environment Friendly ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Production Of Hydrogen ◽  
And Performance

Abstract Hydrogen production by electrolysis of water is seen as a promising technique as it is environment friendly and it can use renewable energy source for the production of hydrogen gas. However, this technology has less than 4% contribution to the production of commercial hydrogen in the market. This is due to the high electricity consumption of the water splitting reaction. The main challenge to make this technology efficient and economically viable is to develop cost effective and highly efficient electrolyzer. Here we have developed a three electrode electrolyzer in which an extra electrode is inserted between conventional electrodes: cathode and anode. This novel electrolyzer utilizes an extra voltage source which reduces the overpotential and increases the anode current of the cell, which is responsible for the hydrogen production. Furthermore, we observed that, the operating resistance of the cell decreases under the application of the new voltage source. Our results demonstrate that the introduction of third electrode improves the performance of electrolysis by consuming less power as compared to the traditional or conventional two electrode electrolyzer system.

A Millimeter Scale Reactor Integrated PEM Fuel Cell Energy System with an On-Board Hydrogen Production, Storage and Regulation Unit for Autonomous Small Scale Applications

2014 ◽  
Vol 93 ◽  
pp. 131-136
Author(s):  
Arvind Balakrishnan ◽  
Claas Mueller ◽  
H. Reinecke
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Hydrogen Production ◽  
Metal Hydride ◽  
Pem Fuel Cell ◽  
Hydrogen Gas ◽  
Pt Catalyst ◽  
Electrical Load ◽  
Cell Energy ◽  
Scale Reactor

We present a millimeter scale reactor integrated PEM fuel cell energy source with an onboard hydrogen production reactor (realized by alkaline chemical hydride), and passive hydrogen buffering unit (realized by metal hydride) of hydrogen. A stacked system of reactor-hydrogen buffer-PEM fuel cell is demonstrated. The system is driven by the hydrolysis of the alkaline chemical hydride (NaOH+NaBH4) in the presence of micro porous catalyst layer (platinum catalyst (Ni-Pt)). The produced hydrogen gas from the reactor is buffered through the hydrogen buffer (Palladium metal hydride) and gets distributed (due to the pressure difference) onto the anode of the PEM fuel cell. The operational behaviour of the complete system is investigated with the hydrogen produced from the alkaline chemical hydride and pure hydrogen gas. Long term voltage measurements under a defined electrical load of the alkaline chemical hydride driven system was measured. The increase in time for the hydrogen production observed in the long term voltage measurement is anticipated to the degradation of the Ni-Pt catalyst. The system is “self-buffering” in nature so any change in electrical load can be handled during system operation.

scholarly journals Mass and performance estimation of hydrogen and battery powered transport aircraft concepts

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Viktor Babčan ◽  
◽  
Michal Janovec
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Performance Estimation ◽  
Performance Parameters ◽  
Commercial Aircraft ◽  
Transport Aircraft ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Definition Of

This article introduces the scope and activities linked to an end of studies project. This project is a collaboration between UNIZA and ENAC and includes work of Pascal Roches and Thierry Druot on top of the student and his UNIZA tutor mentioned above. This article describes the environment of ENAC and the particular department CADO in which the project is being accomplished. It also sets the definition of the project, its main goals and deliverables. Finally, it shows methods of the work that has been done so far, that is the completion of the database of 324 commercial aircraft, which took the largest amount of time so far. It also introduces the software, which will be used to define different models required to calculate initial dimensions and performance parameters of battery or fuel cell concept aircraft.

Impacts of H2 Blending on Capacity and Efficiency on a Gas Transport Network

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Francis Bainier ◽  
Rainer Kurz
Keyword(s):  
Natural Gas ◽  
Molecular Hydrogen ◽  
Gas Transport ◽  
Energy Requirement ◽  
Calorific Value ◽  
Hydrogen Gas ◽  
Transport Network ◽  
Pure Hydrogen ◽  
Pipeline Network ◽  
Methane Gas

Abstract Gas Transport System Operators (TSO1) are considering injecting hydrogen gas in their networks. Blending hydrogen into the existing natural gas pipeline network appears to be a strategy for storing and delivering renewable energy to markets [1], [2],[3]. In comparison to methane, hydrogen gas (dihydrogen or molecular hydrogen) has a higher mass calorific value than methane gas. Because of this property, molecular hydrogen is appreciated for space shuttle engines. A second property is that hydrogen gas has a lower mass density than methane gas. The result of the second property is that the volume calorific value is in favor of methane gas. The list of differences between methane and hydrogen is long. In the relevant range of pressures and temperatures, the Joule-Thomson coefficient has a different sign for hydrogen and methane, and the compressibility factor has the opposite trend when the gas is compressed. The dynamic viscosity is also significantly different, and finally, heat capacity, isentropic exponent, and the thermal conductivity are also different. What are the impacts of these hydrogen characteristics on the transport capacity and its efficiency in the case of blending in a gas transport network? The first part of the paper is a review of the differences in characteristics between Hydrogen Gas and a Typical Natural Gas in Europe and their impact on the gas flow performance in a pipeline network equipped with compressors. The second part of the paper is dedicated to pipe segments. And in the third part, compressor stations are introduced between each pipe segment. At each step, an analysis of a mixed gas from one hundred per cent pure natural gas to one hundred per cent pure hydrogen is done. The paper provides some results for 10 %, 40 %, and 100 % of hydrogen blending in an international pipeline. The study shows that the energy quantity transported at the same pressure ratio is reduced respectively by 4 %, 14 %, and 15 to 20 %, and energy requirement for compression increases respectively by 7 %, 30 %, and 210 % (i.e. it more than triples). To transport the same quantity of energy in a network, assuming the resizing to the same level of optimizations, the energy requirement increases by 11 %, 52 %, and 280 %. In other words, it takes 4 times the energy to transport a given amount of energy if the gas is pure hydrogen than it takes if the gas is pure natural gas. The paper does not address the issue of equipment or material, it only compares the influence of hydrogen gas on the network capacity and the transport efficiency. This paper doesn’t take into account the limits of the equipment. All equipment is considered as compatible with any load of hydrogen blending.

scholarly journals Study of a pilot photovoltaic-electrolyser-fuel cell power system for a geothermal heat pump heated greenhouse and evaluation of the electrolyser efficiency and operational mode

2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (3) ◽  
pp. 111 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ileana Blanco ◽  
Simone Pascuzzi ◽  
Alexandros Sotirios Anifantis ◽  
Giacomo Scarascia-Mugnozza
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Hydrogen Production ◽  
Power System ◽  
Heat Pump ◽  
Renewable Energy Sources ◽  
Intrinsic Factor ◽  
Radiant Energy ◽  
Mathematic Model ◽  
Hydrogen Gas ◽  
Operational Mode

The intrinsic factor of variability of renewable energy sources often limits their broader use. The photovoltaic solar systems can be provided with a power back up based on a combination of an electrolyser and a fuel cell stack. The integration of solar hydrogen power systems with greenhouse heating equipment can provide a possible option for powering stand-alone greenhouses. The aim of the research under development at the experimental farm of Department of Agro-Environmental Sciences of the University of Bari <em>Aldo Moro</em> is to investigate on the suitable solutions of a power system based on photovoltaic energy and on the use of hydrogen as energy vector, integrated with a ground source heat pump for greenhouse heating in a self sustained way. The excess energy produced by a purpose-built array of solar photovoltaic modules supplies an alkaline electrolyser; the produced hydrogen gas is stored in pressured storage tank. When the solar radiation level is insufficient to meet the heat pump power demand, the fuel cell starts converting the chemical energy stored by the hydrogen fuel into electricity. This paper reports on the description of the realised system. Furthermore the efficiency and the operational mode of the electrolyser were evaluated during a trial period characterised by mutable solar radiant energy. Anyway the electrolyser worked continuously in a transient state producing fluctuations of the hydrogen production and without ever reaching the steady-state conditions. The Faradic efficiency, evaluated by means of an empirical mathematic model, highlights that the suitable working range of the electrolyser was 1.5÷2.5 kW and then for hydrogen production more than 0.21 Nm<sup>3</sup>h<sup>–1</sup>.

Pure hydrogen production on a new gold–thoria catalyst for fuel cell applications

2006 ◽  
Vol 63 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 94-103 ◽  
Author(s):  
T. Tabakova ◽  
V. Idakiev ◽  
K. Tenchev ◽  
F. Boccuzzi ◽  
M. Manzoli ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Fuel Cell ◽  
Hydrogen Production ◽  
Pure Hydrogen
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