IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/renene/v166y2020icp222-233.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Comparative analysis of performance of alkaline water electrolyzer by using porous separator and ion-solvating polybenzimidazole membrane

Author

Listed:
  • Alam, Afroz
  • Park, Chungi
  • Lee, Jaeseung
  • Ju, Hyunchul

Abstract

A multi-dimensional transient numerical alkaline water electrolyzer (AWE) model is applied to zero-gap circular shaped cells in which either a porous separator (Zirfon) or a dense polybenzimidazole (PBI) membrane is sandwiched between the negative and positive electrodes of nickel foam. In general, not only do the model predictions compare well with the experimental data collected under various wt% KOH electrolyte conditions, but they also reveal key features that favor the use of the PBI membrane over the porous separator. Moreover, a lower ohmic polarization and resulting higher cell performance are achieved by using the PBI membrane owing to its higher ionic conductivity and thinner thickness compared to those of the separator. Although a thin PBI membrane of around 50 μm is employed, simulation results demonstrate that the crossover of hydrogen and oxygen gases is effectively suppressed with a 10-fold thicker separator (500 μm).

Suggested Citation

  • Alam, Afroz & Park, Chungi & Lee, Jaeseung & Ju, Hyunchul, 2020. "Comparative analysis of performance of alkaline water electrolyzer by using porous separator and ion-solvating polybenzimidazole membrane," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 222-233.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:166:y:2020:i:c:p:222-233
    DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2020.11.151
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0960148120319157
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.renene.2020.11.151?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Damien Le Bideau & Philippe Mandin & Mohamed Benbouzid & Myeongsub Kim & Mathieu Sellier & Fabrizio Ganci & Rosalinda Inguanta, 2020. "Eulerian Two-Fluid Model of Alkaline Water Electrolysis for Hydrogen Production," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(13), pages 1-14, July.
    2. Ko, Johan & Ju, Hyunchul, 2012. "Comparison of numerical simulation results and experimental data during cold-start of polymer electrolyte fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 94(C), pages 364-374.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marco Dreoni & Francesco Balduzzi & Syed Sahil Hossain & Matthias Neben & Francesco Maria Ferro & Giovanni Ferrara & Alessandro Bianchini, 2024. "Definition of Critical Metrics for Performance Evaluation and Multiphase Flow Modeling in an Alkaline Electrolyzer Using CFD," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(21), pages 1-18, October.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Chunjuan Shen & Sichuan Xu & Lei Pan & Yuan Gao, 2021. "A High-Efficiency Cooperative Control Strategy of Active and Passive Heating for a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-11, November.
    2. Maximilian Schmitz & Matthias Bahr & Sönke Gößling & Stefan Pischinger, 2023. "Analysis of Ice Formation during Start-Up of PEM Fuel Cells at Subzero Temperatures Using Experimental and Simulative Methods," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(18), pages 1-26, September.
    3. Mohamed-Amine Babay & Mustapha Adar & Ahmed Chebak & Mustapha Mabrouki, 2023. "Dynamics of Gas Generation in Porous Electrode Alkaline Electrolysis Cells: An Investigation and Optimization Using Machine Learning," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(14), pages 1-21, July.
    4. Pan, Mingzhang & Pan, Chengjie & Li, Chao & Zhao, Jian, 2021. "A review of membranes in proton exchange membrane fuel cells: Transport phenomena, performance and durability," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 141(C).
    5. Huo, Sen & Cooper, Nathanial James & Smith, Travis Lee & Park, Jae Wan & Jiao, Kui, 2017. "Experimental investigation on PEM fuel cell cold start behavior containing porous metal foam as cathode flow distributor," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 203(C), pages 101-114.
    6. Li, Linjun & Wang, Shixue & Yue, Like & Wang, Guozhuo, 2019. "Cold-start method for proton-exchange membrane fuel cells based on locally heating the cathode," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 254(C).
    7. Knorr, Florian & Sanchez, Daniel Garcia & Schirmer, Johannes & Gazdzicki, Pawel & Friedrich, K.A., 2019. "Methanol as antifreeze agent for cold start of automotive polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(C), pages 1-10.
    8. Yang, Liu & Cao, Chenxi & Gan, Quanquan & Pei, Hao & Zhang, Qi & Li, Ping, 2022. "Revealing failure modes and effect of catalyst layer properties for PEM fuel cell cold start using an agglomerate model," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 312(C).
    9. Gabriela Elena Badea & Cristina Hora & Ioana Maior & Anca Cojocaru & Calin Secui & Sanda Monica Filip & Florin Ciprian Dan, 2022. "Sustainable Hydrogen Production from Seawater Electrolysis: Through Fundamental Electrochemical Principles to the Most Recent Development," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-31, November.
    10. Zhan, Zhigang & Yuan, Chong & Hu, Zhangrong & Wang, Hui & Sui, P.C. & Djilali, Ned & Pan, Mu, 2018. "Experimental study on different preheating methods for the cold-start of PEMFC stacks," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 162(C), pages 1029-1040.
    11. Pan, Weitong & Li, Ping & Gan, Quanquan & Chen, Xueli & Wang, Fuchen & Dai, Gance, 2020. "Thermal stability analysis of cold start processes in PEM fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 261(C).
    12. Gießgen, Tom & Jahnke, Thomas, 2023. "Assisted cold start of a PEMFC with a thermochemical preheater: A numerical study," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 331(C).
    13. Yazhou Chen & Sheng Li & Jie Peng & Weilin Zhuge & Yangjun Zhang, 2023. "Numerical Simulation of the Cold-Start Process of Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-23, August.
    14. Huo, Sen & Jiao, Kui & Park, Jae Wan, 2019. "On the water transport behavior and phase transition mechanisms in cold start operation of PEM fuel cell," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 233, pages 776-788.
    15. Zang, Linfeng & Hao, Liang & Zhu, Xiaojing, 2023. "Effect of the pore structure of cathode catalyst layer on the PEM fuel cell cold start process," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 271(C).
    16. Chen, Qin & Zhang, Guobin & Zhang, Xuzhong & Sun, Cheng & Jiao, Kui & Wang, Yun, 2021. "Thermal management of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells: A review of cooling methods, material properties, and durability," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 286(C).
    17. Simone Ferrari & Riccardo Rossi & Annalisa Di Bernardino, 2022. "A Review of Laboratory and Numerical Techniques to Simulate Turbulent Flows," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(20), pages 1-56, October.
    18. Lei Yao & Fangfang Ma & Jie Peng & Jianbo Zhang & Yangjun Zhang & Jianpeng Shi, 2020. "Analysis of the Failure Modes in the Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell Cold-Start Process—Anode Dehydration or Cathode Pore Blockage," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-20, January.
    19. Tian, Pengjie & Liu, Xuejun & Luo, Kaiyao & Li, Hongkun & Wang, Yun, 2021. "Deep learning from three-dimensional multiphysics simulation in operational optimization and control of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell for maximum power," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 288(C).
    20. Andersson, M. & Beale, S.B. & Espinoza, M. & Wu, Z. & Lehnert, W., 2016. "A review of cell-scale multiphase flow modeling, including water management, in polymer electrolyte fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 180(C), pages 757-778.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:renene:v:166:y:2020:i:c:p:222-233. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/renewable-energy .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.