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Anode recirculation and purge strategies for PEM fuel cell operation with diluted hydrogen feed gas

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  • Steinberger, Michael
  • Geiling, Johannes
  • Oechsner, Richard
  • Frey, Lothar

Abstract

Commercial polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell systems require pure hydrogen feed gas (ISO 14687-2), otherwise impurities and inert gases would accumulate. Inert gases are difficult to remove, but do not hazard the fuel cell stack itself. Therefore, two purge strategies are introduced and experimentally investigated which enable fuel cell operation with up to 30 vol.% nitrogen content in the feed gas. Both strategies use a commercial on-line hydrogen sensor at the stack outlet either to trigger a discontinuous purge or to control the purge valve continuously. The experimental results show that the discontinuous purge strategy can be applied up to 10 vol.% nitrogen content in the feed gas. The continuous purge strategy was successfully operated with up to 30 vol.% nitrogen content and achieved the theoretical maximum fuel efficiency between 80 and 100%. The influence of nitrogen crossover on fuel efficiency and operating performance was investigated and found negligible. To sum up, the new continuous purge strategy offers an efficient, easy-to-implement, and robust solution to operate polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell systems with up to 30 vol.% nitrogen content in the feed gas.

Suggested Citation

  • Steinberger, Michael & Geiling, Johannes & Oechsner, Richard & Frey, Lothar, 2018. "Anode recirculation and purge strategies for PEM fuel cell operation with diluted hydrogen feed gas," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 572-582.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:232:y:2018:i:c:p:572-582
    DOI: 10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.10.004
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Christopher L. Gardner & Paran J. Sarma & Erik Kjeang, 2022. "Accumulation of Inert Impurities in a Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell System with Anode Recirculation and Periodic Purge: A Simple Analytical Model," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-18, March.
    2. Jianmei Feng & Jiquan Han & Zihui Pang & Xueyuan Peng, 2023. "Designing Hydrogen Recirculation Ejectors for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(3), pages 1-10, January.
    3. Wang, Bowen & Wu, Kangcheng & Xi, Fuqiang & Xuan, Jin & Xie, Xu & Wang, Xiaoyang & Jiao, Kui, 2019. "Numerical analysis of operating conditions effects on PEMFC with anode recirculation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 844-856.
    4. Lei, Gang & Zheng, Hualin & Zhang, Jun & Siong Chin, Cheng & Xu, Xinhai & Zhou, Weijiang & Zhang, Caizhi, 2023. "Analyzing characteristic and modeling of high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells with CO poisoning effect," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    5. Bizon, Nicu, 2019. "Fuel saving strategy using real-time switching of the fueling regulators in the proton exchange membrane fuel cell system," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 252(C), pages 1-1.
    6. Hou, Junbo & Yang, Min & Zhang, Junliang, 2020. "Active and passive fuel recirculation for solid oxide and proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 155(C), pages 1355-1371.
    7. Murat Peksen, 2021. "Hydrogen Technology towards the Solution of Environment-Friendly New Energy Vehicles," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-6, August.
    8. Luca Del Zotto & Andrea Monforti Ferrario & Arda Hatunoglu & Alessandro Dell’Era & Stephen McPhail & Enrico Bocci, 2021. "Experimental Procedures & First Results of an Innovative Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Test Rig: Parametric Analysis and Stability Test," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-19, April.
    9. Quan, Shengwei & Wang, Ya-Xiong & Xiao, Xuelian & He, Hongwen & Sun, Fengchun, 2021. "Feedback linearization-based MIMO model predictive control with defined pseudo-reference for hydrogen regulation of automotive fuel cells," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 293(C).
    10. Nicu Bizon & Phatiphat Thounthong, 2021. "A Simple and Safe Strategy for Improving the Fuel Economy of a Fuel Cell Vehicle," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-29, March.

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