Fuel Cell Electrochemical Modeling for Hydrogen and Thermal Coupling with a Metal Hydride-Based Hydrogen Storage System
Creators: name: Puszkiel, Julián
Publisher: name: Zenodo
Year: 2023

description: Given the rising global energy consumption, the search for consistent and sustainable fuels and energy sources is growing in significance as part of the effort to decarbonize the energy sector. The role of efficient and flexible energy storage systems in coping with periods of insufficient power generation and managing surplus energy production cannot be underestimated. A particularly promising avenue for storing electrical energy sourced from renewables involves harnessing hydrogen as an energy carrier, attributed to its substantial gravimetric energy density of 33.33 kWh/kg [1]. However, the volumetric energy density of hydrogen is very low, ≈3 kWh/Nm³ [2]. Coupling hydrogen production by electrolysis with various hydrogen storage methods has received increasing research attention, particularly as a scalable solution to meet growing energy demand. Using solid-state hydrogen storage systems improves the volumetric energy density of hydrogen up to 490 kWh/m3 [1] and is an efficient and safe method for long-term above-ground storage in power-to-gas and gas-to-power configurations [2-5].

Digi-HyPro (Digital hydrogen process chain for energy transition) is a research project funded by dtec.bw that aims to couple the mobility, gas and electricity sectors. For this, a Smart-Energy-Transform-Unit (SET-Unit) is under development where an electrolyzer, a fuel cell, a metal hydride storage, and a metal hydride compressor will be integrated and coupled in the nominal scale of 10 kW [6]. 

In this work, the development and validation of a simulation model for a 5 kW net power proton exchange membrane (PEM) water-cooled proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell system purchased from the company Power Cellution have been carried out. The developed electrochemical model has been validated with experimental data provided by the manufacturer. Information acquired from the simulation of the PEM fuel cell system concerns hydrogen consumption, waste heat generation, and net electrical production. The modeling of the PEM-FC allowed the investigation of optimal hydrogen management and thermal coupling with a metal hydride-based hydrogen storage system. Both 0D simulation models are developed using Matlab/Simulink. For hydrogen management, a hydrogen storage system based on a room-temperature hydride-forming alloy (Hydralloy C5) is employed to supply the PEM-FC with hydrogen in the required range of flow, i.e., between 120 g/h and 350 g/h at net power of 2 kW (power at max efficiency of 49 %) and 5 kW (maximum power), respectively. For heat management, the heat generated from the PEM fuel cell system, i.e., 0.6 kW to 2 kW at maximum efficiency and maximum power, is used to dehydrogenate the solid-state hydrogen storage system, thus improving the efficiency of the PEM-FC and MH coupling. Such coupling enables the timely supply of hydrogen to a fuel cell for on-demand electrical power generation.

 

References

[1] J. A. Puszkiel, J. Andrade-Gamboa, F. C. Gennari, Recent progresses on the Mg-Co-H and Mg-Fe-H systems for hydrogen-energy storage applications, ed. book "Emerging Materials for Energy Conversion and Storage”, ed. Elsevier, USA, 2018, ISBN: 978-0-12-813794-9. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813794-9.00012-0

[2] M. Rivarolo, G. Riveros-Godoy, L. Magistri, A.F. Massardo, Clean hydrogen and ammonia synthesis in paraguay from the Itaipu 14 GW hydroelectric plant, ChemEngineering 3 (2019) 87, https://doi.org/10.3390/ chemengineering3040087

[3] Ancona, M. A., Bianchi, M., Branchini, L., De Pascale, A., Melino, F., Peretto, A., ... & Scarponi, L. B. (2017). From solar to hydrogen: Preliminary experimental investigation on a small scale facility. International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 42(33), 20979-20993. 

[4] Khayrullina, A. G., Blinov, D., & Borzenko, V. (2019). Novel kW scale hydrogen energy storage system utilizing fuel cell exhaust air for hydrogen desorption process from metal hydride reactor. Energy, 183, 1244-1252.. 

[5] Zhang, Y., Sun, H., & Guo, Y. (2020). Integration Design and Operation Strategy of Multi-Energy Hybrid System Including Renewable Energies, Batteries and Hydrogen. Energies, 13(20), 5463.

[6] J. Puszkiel*, M. Covarrubias Guraneros, L. Fleming, T. F. J. Kaufmann, P. Krause, J. H. Warfsmann, E. S. Wienken, L. Wildner, M. Schulze, T. Klassen, H. Kutzner, G. Gizer, J. M. Belllosta von Colbe, K. Taube, H. Hamedi, T. Brinkmann, J. Jepsen, Hydrogen in stationary applications: Coupling the electricity, gas and mobility sectors (Digi-HyPro), In: dtec.bw – Helmut-Schmidt-Universität/Universität der Bundeswehr Hamburg (2022). https://openhsu.ub.hsu-hh.de/handle/10.24405/14527

Acknowledgement

The research project „Digi-HyPro“ is funded by dtec.bw. The authors would like to thank dtec.bw - Center for Digitization and Technology Research of the German Armed Forces for their support.