IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v16y2023i13p4964-d1179892.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Performance of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolysis Systems: Configuration, Stack Materials, Turndown and Efficiency

Author

Listed:
  • Xiaohua Wang

    (Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL 60439-4858, USA)

  • Andrew G. Star

    (Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL 60439-4858, USA)

  • Rajesh K. Ahluwalia

    (Argonne National Laboratory, Lemont, IL 60439-4858, USA)

Abstract

A cell model is developed and validated to analyze the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) stacks and systems. It is used to characterize the oxygen evolution reaction (OER) activity on a TiO 2 -supported IrO 2 catalyst and an unsupported IrO 2 powder catalyst. Electrochemical, stack, and system thermoneutral potentials are defined and determined for isothermal and non-isothermal stack operation. Conditions are determined under which the system thermoneutral potential or flammability of H 2 in the O 2 anode stream limits the stack turndown and operating temperature. Performance is analyzed of a complete PEMWE system with an electrolyzer stack containing an IrO 2 /TiO 2 anode catalyst (2 mg/cm 2 Ir loading) and N117-like membrane mitigated for H 2 crossover, anode balance-of-plant (BOP) components, cathode BOP system with temperature swing adsorption for H 2 purification, and electrical BOP system with transformer and rectifier. At the rated power condition, defined as 2 A/cm 2 at 1.9 V, 80 °C, and 30 bar H 2 pressure, the stack/system efficiency is 65.3%/60.3% at beginning of life (BOL), decreasing to 59.3%/53.9% at end of life (EOL). The peak stack/system efficiency is 76.3%/70.2% at BOL, decreasing to 71.2%/65.6% at EOL. Improvements in catalyst activity and membrane are identified for a 50% increase in current to 3 A/cm 2 at 1.8 V.

Suggested Citation

  • Xiaohua Wang & Andrew G. Star & Rajesh K. Ahluwalia, 2023. "Performance of Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Water Electrolysis Systems: Configuration, Stack Materials, Turndown and Efficiency," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-17, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:13:p:4964-:d:1179892
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/13/4964/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/13/4964/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tjarks, Geert & Gibelhaus, Andrej & Lanzerath, Franz & Müller, Martin & Bardow, André & Stolten, Detlef, 2018. "Energetically-optimal PEM electrolyzer pressure in power-to-gas plants," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 218(C), pages 192-198.
    2. Fabian Scheepers & Markus Stähler & Andrea Stähler & Edward Rauls & Martin Müller & Marcelo Carmo & Werner Lehnert, 2020. "Improving the Efficiency of PEM Electrolyzers through Membrane-Specific Pressure Optimization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-21, February.
    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. Davide Clematis & Daria Bellotti & Massimo Rivarolo & Loredana Magistri & Antonio Barbucci, 2023. "Hydrogen Carriers: Scientific Limits and Challenges for the Supply Chain, and Key Factors for Techno-Economic Analysis," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-31, August.

    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. Scheepers, Fabian & Stähler, Markus & Stähler, Andrea & Rauls, Edward & Müller, Martin & Carmo, Marcelo & Lehnert, Werner, 2021. "Temperature optimization for improving polymer electrolyte membrane-water electrolysis system efficiency," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 283(C).
    2. Bernd Emonts & Martin Müller & Michael Hehemann & Holger Janßen & Roger Keller & Markus Stähler & Andrea Stähler & Veit Hagenmeyer & Roland Dittmeyer & Peter Pfeifer & Simon Waczowicz & Michael Rubin , 2022. "A Holistic Consideration of Megawatt Electrolysis as a Key Component of Sector Coupling," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(10), pages 1-24, May.
    3. Burin Yodwong & Damien Guilbert & Matheepot Phattanasak & Wattana Kaewmanee & Melika Hinaje & Gianpaolo Vitale, 2020. "Faraday’s Efficiency Modeling of a Proton Exchange Membrane Electrolyzer Based on Experimental Data," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(18), pages 1-14, September.
    4. Pantò, Fabiola & Siracusano, Stefania & Briguglio, Nicola & Aricò, Antonino Salvatore, 2020. "Durability of a recombination catalyst-based membrane-electrode assembly for electrolysis operation at high current density," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 279(C).
    5. Makhsoos, Ashkan & Kandidayeni, Mohsen & Boulon, Loïc & Pollet, Bruno G., 2023. "A comparative analysis of single and modular proton exchange membrane water electrolyzers for green hydrogen production- a case study in Trois-Rivières," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 282(C).
    6. Kaya, Mehmet Fatih & Demir, Nesrin & Rees, Neil V. & El-Kharouf, Ahmad, 2020. "Improving PEM water electrolyser’s performance by magnetic field application," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 264(C).
    7. Fabian Scheepers & Markus Stähler & Andrea Stähler & Edward Rauls & Martin Müller & Marcelo Carmo & Werner Lehnert, 2020. "Improving the Efficiency of PEM Electrolyzers through Membrane-Specific Pressure Optimization," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(3), pages 1-21, February.
    8. Sumit Sood & Om Prakash & Mahdi Boukerdja & Jean-Yves Dieulot & Belkacem Ould-Bouamama & Mathieu Bressel & Anne-Lise Gehin, 2020. "Generic Dynamical Model of PEM Electrolyser under Intermittent Sources," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-34, December.
    9. Frank Gambou & Damien Guilbert & Michel Zasadzinski & Hugues Rafaralahy, 2022. "A Comprehensive Survey of Alkaline Electrolyzer Modeling: Electrical Domain and Specific Electrolyte Conductivity," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(9), pages 1-20, May.
    10. Paolo Aliberti & Marco Sorrentino & Marco Califano & Cesare Pianese & Luca Capozucca & Laura Cristiani & Gianpiero Lops & Roberto Mancini, 2023. "Modelling Methodologies to Design and Control Renewables and Hydrogen-Based Telecom Towers Power Supply Systems," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-19, August.
    11. Mahmoudan, Alireza & Esmaeilion, Farbod & Hoseinzadeh, Siamak & Soltani, Madjid & Ahmadi, Pouria & Rosen, Marc, 2022. "A geothermal and solar-based multigeneration system integrated with a TEG unit: Development, 3E analyses, and multi-objective optimization," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 308(C).
    12. Rahaf S. Ghanem & Laura Nousch & Maria Richter, 2022. "Modeling of a Grid-Independent Set-Up of a PV/SOFC Micro-CHP System Combined with a Seasonal Energy Storage for Residential Applications," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-20, February.
    13. Hernández-Gómez, Ángel & Ramirez, Victor & Guilbert, Damien & Saldivar, Belem, 2021. "Cell voltage static-dynamic modeling of a PEM electrolyzer based on adaptive parameters: Development and experimental validation," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 163(C), pages 1508-1522.
    14. Sooin Kwon & Seongyong Eom & Jang-Sik Yang & Gyungmin Choi, 2023. "Development of an In-House Code for Dry Tower of Heat Transfer Analysis in Hydrogen Purification System," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-13, June.
    15. Rauls, Edward & Hehemann, Michael & Keller, Roger & Scheepers, Fabian & Müller, Martin & Stolten, Detlef, 2023. "Favorable Start-Up behavior of polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolyzers," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 330(PA).

    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:gam:jeners:v:16:y:2023:i:13:p:4964-:d:1179892. 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: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    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.