IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/energy/v198y2020ics036054422030400x.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Coupled computational fluid dynamics-response surface methodology to optimize direct methanol fuel cell performance for greener energy generation

Author

Listed:
  • Sharifi, Shima
  • Rahimi, Rahbar
  • Mohebbi-Kalhori, Davod
  • Colpan, C. Ozgur

Abstract

Optimization of operational parameters is vital for improving the performance of direct methanol fuel cells. To investigate the effects of these parameters on the power density, the experiments were performed using an experimental setup to yield the highest performance. In this regard, response surface methodology (RSM) was applied to select the proper combination of operating variables such as cell temperature, methanol concentration, and oxygen flow rate. Furthermore, a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model of DMFC flow field plates, including two parallel-serpentine channels with circular bends were conducted using the finite element method at the optimum operating conditions, which obtained by applying RSM. The developed model solves the conservation of charge, mass, momentum, and species (methanol, water, and oxygen) transport equations. The performance tests based on RSM gave the optimum operating conditions as a cell temperature of 70 °C, methanol concentration of 1 M, and an oxygen flow rate of 300 ml/min. The mathematical model in the optimal operating conditions showed that the polarization curve obtained from the modeling study is in good agreement with the experimental data. Also, the concentration distributions of methanol and oxygen at the optimum operating conditions were predicted by the CFD model.

Suggested Citation

  • Sharifi, Shima & Rahimi, Rahbar & Mohebbi-Kalhori, Davod & Colpan, C. Ozgur, 2020. "Coupled computational fluid dynamics-response surface methodology to optimize direct methanol fuel cell performance for greener energy generation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 198(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:energy:v:198:y:2020:i:c:s036054422030400x
    DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2020.117293
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S036054422030400X
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.energy.2020.117293?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. Ko, Johan & Chippar, Purushothama & Ju, Hyunchul, 2010. "A one-dimensional, two-phase model for direct methanol fuel cells – Part I: Model development and parametric study," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 2149-2159.
    2. García-Salaberri, Pablo A. & Vera, Marcos, 2016. "On the effect of operating conditions in liquid-feed direct methanol fuel cells: A multiphysics modeling approach," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 1265-1287.
    3. Taymaz, Imdat & Akgun, Fehmi & Benli, Merthan, 2011. "Application of response surface methodology to optimize and investigate the effects of operating conditions on the performance of DMFC," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 1155-1160.
    4. Wang, Luwen & Yuan, Zhaoxia & Wen, Fei & Cheng, Yuhua & Zhang, Yufeng & Wang, Gaofeng, 2018. "A bipolar passive DMFC stack for portable applications," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 587-593.
    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. Pourali, Mostafa & Esfahani, Javad Abolfazli, 2022. "Performance analysis of a micro-scale integrated hydrogen production system by analytical approach, machine learning, and response surface methodology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 255(C).
    2. Solmaz, Hamit & Ardebili, Seyed Mohammad Safieddin & Calam, Alper & Yılmaz, Emre & İpci, Duygu, 2021. "Prediction of performance and exhaust emissions of a CI engine fueled with multi-wall carbon nanotube doped biodiesel-diesel blends using response surface method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 227(C).
    3. Fang, Shuo & Liu, Yuntao & Zhao, Chunhui & Huang, Lilian & Zhong, Zhi & Wang, Yun, 2021. "Polarization analysis of a micro direct methanol fuel cell stack based on Debye-Hückel ionic atmosphere theory," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    4. Zhengang Zhao & Fan Zhang & Yanhui Zhang & Dacheng Zhang, 2021. "Performance Optimization of μ DMFC with Foamed Stainless Steel Cathode Current Collector," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-13, October.
    5. Chen, Jingxian & Xu, Peihang & Lu, Jie & Ouyang, Tiancheng & Mo, Chunlan, 2021. "A prospective study of anti-vibration mechanism of microfluidic fuel cell via novel two-phase flow model," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C).
    6. Abdelkareem, Mohammad Ali & Sayed, Enas Taha & Nakagawa, Nobuyoshi, 2020. "Significance of diffusion layers on the performance of liquid and vapor feed passive direct methanol fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 209(C).
    7. Ke, Yuzhi & Zhang, Baotong & Bai, Yafeng & Yuan, Wei & Li, Jinguang & Liu, Ziang & Su, Xiaoqing & Zhang, Shiwei & Ding, Xinrui & Wan, Zhenping & Tang, Yong & Zhou, Feikun, 2023. "Bubble-derived contour regeneration of flow channel by in situ tracking for direct methanol fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    8. Zhang, Rongji & Cao, Jiamu & Wang, Weiqi & Zhou, Jing & Chen, Junyu & Chen, Liang & Chen, Weiping & Zhang, Yufeng, 2023. "An improved strategy of passive micro direct methanol fuel cell: Mass transport mechanism optimization dominated by a single hydrophilic layer," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 274(C).

    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. Fang, Shuo & Zhang, Yufeng & Zou, Yuezhang & Sang, Shengtian & Liu, Xiaowei, 2017. "Structural design and analysis of a passive DMFC supplied with concentrated methanol solution," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 50-61.
    2. Fang, Shuo & Zhang, Yufeng & Ma, Zezhong & Sang, Shengtian & Liu, Xiaowei, 2016. "Systemic modeling and analysis of DMFC stack for behavior prediction in system-level application," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 1015-1023.
    3. Fang, Shuo & Song, Nan & Liu, Yuntao & Zhou, Chaoyang & Zhao, Chunhui & Wang, Yun, 2023. "Oscillator design for high efficiency DC-DC of micro direct methanol fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 284(C).
    4. Fang, Shuo & Liu, Yuntao & Zhao, Chunhui & Huang, Lilian & Zhong, Zhi & Wang, Yun, 2021. "Polarization analysis of a micro direct methanol fuel cell stack based on Debye-Hückel ionic atmosphere theory," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 222(C).
    5. Najafi, Gholamhassan & Ghobadian, Barat & Yusaf, Talal & Safieddin Ardebili, Seyed Mohammad & Mamat, Rizalman, 2015. "Optimization of performance and exhaust emission parameters of a SI (spark ignition) engine with gasoline–ethanol blended fuels using response surface methodology," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 90(P2), pages 1815-1829.
    6. Sánchez-Monreal, Juan & García-Salaberri, Pablo A. & Vera, Marcos, 2019. "A mathematical model for direct ethanol fuel cells based on detailed ethanol electro-oxidation kinetics," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 251(C), pages 1-1.
    7. Yuan, Zhenyu & Zhang, Manna & Zuo, Kaiyuan & Ren, Yongqiang, 2018. "The effect of gravity on inner transport and cell performance in passive micro direct methanol fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 150(C), pages 28-37.
    8. Yang, Qinwen & Gao, Bin & Cheng, Qiang & Xiao, Gang & Meng, Min, 2022. "Adaptive control strategy for power output stability in long-time operation of fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 238(PA).
    9. Boyacı San, Fatma Gül & Okur, Osman & İyigün Karadağ, Çiğdem & Isik-Gulsac, Isil & Okumuş, Emin, 2014. "Evaluation of operating conditions on DBFC (direct borohydride fuel cell) performance with PtRu anode catalyst by response surface method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 71(C), pages 160-169.
    10. Chippar, Purushothama & Ko, Johan & Ju, Hyunchul, 2010. "A global transient, one-dimensional, two-phase model for direct methanol fuel cells (DMFCs) – Part II: Analysis of the time-dependent thermal behavior of DMFCs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 2301-2308.
    11. Rahnavard, Aylin & Rowshanzamir, Soosan & Parnian, Mohammad Javad & Amirkhanlou, Gholam Reza, 2015. "The effect of sulfonated poly (ether ether ketone) as the electrode ionomer for self-humidifying nanocomposite proton exchange membrane fuel cells," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 82(C), pages 746-757.
    12. Roudbari, Mohsen Najafi & Ojani, Reza & Raoof, Jahan Bakhsh, 2019. "Performance improvement of polymer fuel cell by simultaneously inspection of catalyst loading, catalyst content and ionomer using home-made cathodic half-cell and response surface method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 173(C), pages 151-161.
    13. Tafaoli-Masoule, M. & Bahrami, A. & Elsayed, E.M., 2014. "Optimum design parameters and operating condition for maximum power of a direct methanol fuel cell using analytical model and genetic algorithm," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 643-652.
    14. Boyaci San, Fatma Gül & Isik-Gulsac, Isil & Okur, Osman, 2013. "Analysis of the polymer composite bipolar plate properties on the performance of PEMFC (polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells) by RSM (response surface methodology)," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 55(C), pages 1067-1075.
    15. Xuqu Hu & Xingyi Wang & Juanzhong Chen & Qinwen Yang & Dapeng Jin & Xiang Qiu, 2017. "Numerical Investigations of the Combined Effects of Flow Rate and Methanol Concentration on DMFC Performance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-15, July.
    16. Bornatico, Raffaele & Hüssy, Jonathan & Witzig, Andreas & Guzzella, Lino, 2013. "Surrogate modeling for the fast optimization of energy systems," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 57(C), pages 653-662.
    17. Boyacı San, Fatma Gül & İyigün Karadağ, Çiğdem & Okur, Osman & Okumuş, Emin, 2016. "Optimization of the catalyst loading for the direct borohydride fuel cell," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 214-224.
    18. Prapainainar, Paweena & Du, Zehui & Theampetch, Apichaya & Prapainainar, Chaiwat & Kongkachuichay, Paisan & Holmes, Stuart M., 2020. "Properties and DMFC performance of nafion/mordenite composite membrane fabricated by solution-casting method with different solvent ratio," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 190(C).
    19. Najafi Roudbari, Mohsen & Ojani, Reza & Raoof, Jahan Bakhsh, 2017. "Investigation of hot pressing parameters for manufacture of catalyst-coated membrane electrode (CCME) for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells by response surface method," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 140(P1), pages 794-803.
    20. Yang, Qinwen & Xiao, Gang & Li, Lexi & Che, Mengjie & Hu, Xu-Qu & Meng, Min, 2021. "Collaborative design of multi-type parameters for design and operational stage matching in fuel cells," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 1101-1110.

    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:energy:v:198:y:2020:i:c:s036054422030400x. 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/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.