Performance evaluation of PEM fuel cell stack on hydrogen produced in the oil refinery (original) (raw)
Related papers
An experimental study on the performance characteristics of proton-exchange-membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been carried out. The study has been performed on a single PEMFC unit with an active area of 25 cm 2 using two different cell configurations. The test system has been established to control each of the temperature and the relative humidity of the cathode feeding gas. Supplied reactants flow rates have been controlled during the test. Also, an electrical load bank has been designed to control the load that the fuel cell will experience as will as to measure the voltage and current produced by the fuel cell at different loads. Obtained results show that, operating conditions affect the fuel cell performance significantly. Cell performance is improved as oxidizer relative humidity is increased and its temperature is decreased. The reactants utilization was better with increasing the oxidizer relative humidity; until flooding occurrence. It was observed that the serpentine/ straight open channels cell configuration suited using air more than oxygen. The cell orientation was also investigated and the upward position showed better performance compared to the downward and horizontal position which gave lower performance.
Analysis of the Energy Efficiency of Fuel Processor - PEM Fuel Cell Systems
Energy Efficiency, 2010
As the world moved into the 21 st century, a rapid development in industrial and transportation sectors and improvements in living standards have been observed, leading to a strong growth in the energy demand and in global emissions (Song, 2002). In this context, fuel cell technology has been receiving an increasing attention, thanks to its lower emissions and potentially higher energy efficiency if compared with internal combustion engines. A fuel cell is defined as an electrochemical device in which the chemical energy stored in a fuel is converted directly into electricity. Among all fuel cells, low temperature Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC) are promising devices for decentralized energy production, both in stationary and automotive field, thanks to high compactness, low weight (high power-to-weight ratio), high modularity and efficiency, fast start-up and response to load changes. The ideal fuel for PEMFC is hydrogen with low carbon monoxide content to avoid poisoning of the fuel cell; in this way, PEMFC can achieve efficiency up to 60%, far higher if compared to 20-35% efficiency of an internal combustion engine. Hydrogen, though, is not a primary source. It is substantially an energy carrier, that can be stored, transported and used as gaseous fuel, but, it needs to be produced from other fuels. Today most of the hydrogen produced is obtained by hydrocarbons in large industrial plants through the well-known Steam Reforming and Autothermal Reforming processes. However, hydrogen distribution from industrial production plants to small-scale users meets some limitations related to difficulties in hydrogen storage and transport. For its chemical and physical properties, indeed, the development of an hydrogen infrastructure seems to be not feasible in short term, while more reasonable seems to be the concept of decentralized hydrogen production; in this way, an hydrogen source, such as methane, is distributed through pipelines to the small-scale plant, placed nearby users, and the in situ produced hydrogen is fed directly to the energy production system, avoiding hydrogen storage and transportation. In this sense, a compact fuel processor, capable of generating a hydrogen rich stream from an easily transportable fuel, is a potential root to accelerate PEMFC deployment in the near future. A typical fuel processor is constituted by a reforming unit coupled with a CO clean-up section, introduced to guarantee hydrogen production with a CO content compatible with
Performance analysis of a new designed PEM fuel cell
International Journal of Energy Research, 2012
In this paper, a new design for the flow channels is presented, and a parametric study of the proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell is conducted in order to investigate the effect of the new flow channels, as well as different operating parameters, on the efficiency and energy output of the cell. Design parameters are selected based on studies presented in the literature to build a physical and practical model. With the new design of the flow channels, it is noticed that the cell efficiency increases from 33.8% to 47.7% if the temperature of the cell is increased. The power output of the cell increases from 2.6 to 282.5 W when the cell temperature and the current density are increased. Moreover, decrease in the efficiency of the cell ranges from 45.5% to 28.4% with the increase in the current density and membrane thickness. Based on the analytical model, design parameters were selected to manufacture a fuel cell that has a power output of 175 W and an efficiency of 35% running at 353 K and 3 bar, with an effective membrane area of 450 cm 2. Experiments are conducted to investigate the effect of newly designed flow channels on pressure distribution. It is found that when hydrogen is supplied from both inlets, pressure across the channels become symmetric and, therefore increasing the power output. This study reveals that, with the proper choice of design parameters, a PEM fuel cell is an attractive economical, efficient, and environmental solution when compared with conventional systems of power generation such as gas turbines.
Clean Source of Energy for Pollution Restraining: Performance Evaluation of PEM Fuel Cell
Clean source of energy is the essential requirement of coming future to maintain a stable ecosystem on the earth, distressed by the global warming due to steep increase in the pollution. A step moving towards this urgent need is the Fuel Cell operating by the use of hydrogen and its continuous improvement in performance. In this paper an investigation was made on the performance of Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell with 25 cm 2 Nafeon-117 membrane area, serpentine channels, with 0.8 mm deep by 1 mm wide every 0.9 mm. The performance was identified to be influenced by number of operating parameters such as temperature, humidification of gas streams; anode hydrogen flow rate and cathode oxygen flow rate. The PEM fuel cell under consideration was given the highest voltage at 75 0 C temperature of fuel cell, 75 0 C temperature of anode humidification, 50 x 10 -6 m 3 min -1 of anode flow rate. The maximum open circuit voltage was obtained at cathode flow rate of 150 x 10 -6 m 3 min -1 . Also, the current density and voltage characteristics were observed and experimental data obtained was validated by using co-relation given by Khazaee.
Modeling and Experimental investigation for PEMFC to achieve high Fuel Cell performance
Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is one of the most promising types of clean and renewable energy. PEMFC is a device that converts chemical energy to electrical energy. In this study the numerical model has been developed by using MATLAB program to optimize the fuel cell operating conditions to achieve high power density and efficiency for PEMFC. The two main parameters that were considered in this work were cell temperature and air to fuel ratio. The numerical results were validated by experimental data which obtained in our laboratory by using Fuel cell test system (Scribner Associates Model 850e).
Performance of the PEM fuel cell module. Part 2. Effect of excess ratio and stack temperature
Journal of Power of Technologies, 2017
The paper describes a fuel cell based system performance under different thermal conditions. The system could be fed with bottled hydrogen or with very high purity hydrogen obtained from reforming of methanol. The system is based on two fuel cell units (1.2 kW each, produced by Ballard Power Systems Inc. and called Nexa), DC/DC converter, DC/AC inverter, microprocessor control unit, load unit, bottled hydrogen supply system and a set of measurement instruments. In this study steady-state operation of the PEM fuel cell system at different values of air excess ratio and different stack temperature was investigated. The load of the system was provided with the aid of a set of resistors. The results obtained show that the net power of the system does not depend on the air excess ratio within the range of O2 from 1.9 to 5.0. The polarization curves of the fuel cell module showed that the fuel cell performance was improved with increased stack temperature within the range of 30C to 65C. I...
Investigation of PEM Fuel Cell Characteristics in Steady and Dynamic Operation Modes
Energies
The article is devoted to the problem of proton-exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) integration into power supply systems. A hybrid energy complex (HEC) based on PEMFCs and lithium iron phosphate batteries can be used as a reliable energy source. It is necessary to properly determine the PEMFC characteristics in order to develop a PEMFC-based HEC prototype and its control algorithms. This paper presents a 1 kW PEMFC’s test results in steady and dynamic modes. The dependences of the average hydrogen consumption per 1 min, the volume of hydrogen for the generation of 1 kWh, the PEMFC efficiency on the load current were obtained and an analysis of these dependences for steady operation modes was performed. A range of load changes beyond which the efficiency of the PEMFC significantly decreased and it was recommended to switch to the joint operation of the PEMFCs and batteries (or only batteries) was established. Diagrams of the PEMFC output voltage during the dynamic changes in loads...
Advances in the development of a hydrogen/oxygen PEM fuel cell stack
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2008
Recent advances in the design and construction of a hydrogen/oxygen PEM fuel cell stack are presented. A test bench including measurement and control devices to monitor the fuel cell operating parameters was mounted. The influence of the characteristics of the membrane electrode assembly, bipolar plates, etc., on the performance of the fuel cell stack was studied. The behavior of the fuel cell stack with a different number of cells in series was evaluated. In order to identify and minimize the energy losses a critical analysis of the results was done.
Investigation of Pem Fuel Cell for Automotive Use
IIUM Engineering Journal
This paper provides a brief investigation on suitability of Proton-exchange  membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) as the source of power for transportation purposes. Hydrogen is an attractive alternative transportation fuel. It is the least polluting fuel that can be used in an internal combustion engine (ICE) and it is widely available. If hydrogen is used in a fuel cell which converts the chemical energy of hydrogen into electricity, (NOx) emissions are eliminated. The investigation was carried out on a  fuel cell car model by implementing polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) types of fuel cell as the source of power to propel the prototype car. This PEMFC has capability to propel the electric motor by converting chemical energy stored in hydrogen gas into useful electrical energy. PEM fuel cell alone is used as the power source for the electric motor without the aid of any other power source such as battery associated with it. Experimental investigations were carried out to investigate t...
A parametric study of PEM fuel cell performances
International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 2003
The e ects of di erent operating parameters on the performance of proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell have been studied experimentally using pure hydrogen on the anode side and air on the cathode side. Experiments with di erent fuel cell operating temperatures, di erent cathode and anode humidiÿcation temperatures, di erent operating pressures, and various combinations of these parameters have been carried out. The experimental results are presented in the form of polarization curves, which show the e ects of the various operating parameters on the performance of the PEM fuel cell. The possible mechanisms of the parameter e ects and their interrelationships are discussed. In addition, a comprehensive three-dimensional fuel cell model is brie y presented and the modeling results are compared with our experimental data. The comparison shows good agreements between the modeling results and the experimental data. ?