Experimental Evaluation of CO Poisoning of an Air-Breathing High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell Stack

In this paper, we experimentally studied an air breathing high temperature PEM fuel cell at steady operating conditions to investigate the effects of CO poisoning at different temperatures ranges between 120°C∼180°C. The effects of changes in temperatures with different amount of CO poisoning on the current-voltage characteristics of the fuel cell are investigated. Experimental data of this type would be very useful to develop design parameters of fuel processor based on reformate hydrocarbons. The high CO tolerance of high temperature PEM fuel cells makes it possible to use the reformate gas directly from the reformer without further CO removal. Here we considered the fact that a steam reformer is a consumer of heat and water, and fuel cell stacks are a producer of heat and water. Thus, integration of the fuel cell stack and the reformer is expected to improve the system performance. The results obtained from the experiments showed variations in current-voltage characteristics at different temperatures with different CO poisoning rates. The results will help to understand the overall system performance development strategy of high temperature PEM fuel cell in terms of current-voltage characteristics, when fed with on-site reformate hydrogen gas with variable CO concentrations.

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Experimental Evaluation of CO Poisoning of a 5-Cell Stack High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell Prototype

ASME 2009 7th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology ◽

10.1115/fuelcell2009-85240 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Susanta K. Das ◽

Antonio Reis ◽

K. Joel Berry

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

System Performance ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Co Poisoning ◽

Fuel Cell Stack ◽

Current Voltage ◽

Current Voltage Characteristics ◽

High Temperature Pem

In this study, we experimentally studied our newly designed and built 5-cell stack high temperature PEM fuel cell prototype at different operating conditions to investigate the effects of CO poisoning on the cell performance. The effects of temperature variations with different amount of CO poisoning on the current-voltage characteristics of the fuel cell stack are investigated. Experimental data of this type would be very useful to develop design parameters for fuel reformer. The high CO tolerance of high temperature PEM fuel cell stack makes it possible to feed the reformate gas directly from the reformer without further CO removal. Thus, upon considering the fact that a steam reformer is a consumer of heat and water, and the fuel cell stacks are a producer of heat and water, the integration of the fuel cell stack and the reformer is expected to improve the entire system performance. The results obtained from our 5-cell stack test showed variations in current-voltage characteristics at different temperatures with different CO poisoning rates. The results are promising to understand the overall system performance development strategy of high temperature PEM fuel cell in terms of current-voltage characteristics while fed with on-site reformate hydrogen gas with different CO concentrations in the anode feed stream.

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Experimental Performance Evaluation of a High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell Prototype Under Various Operating Conditions

ASME 2011 9th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology ◽

10.1115/fuelcell2011-54734 ◽

2011 ◽

Author(s):

Susanta K. Das

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

Operating Temperature ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Co Poisoning ◽

Current Voltage ◽

Current Voltage Characteristics ◽

Fuel Stream ◽

High Temperature Pem

In this study, we experimentally evaluated our newly designed high temperature PEM fuel cell (HTPEMFC) prototype performance at different operating conditions. In particular, we investigated the effects of operating temperature, pressure, air stoichiometry and CO poisoning in the anode fuel stream on the current-voltage characteristics of the HTPEMFC prototype. Experimental results obtained from the single HTPEM fuel cell show that the performance is quite steady with high CO-level reformate at high operating temperature which makes it possible to feed the reformate gas directly from the reformer to the stack without further CO removal. In order to develop design parameters for fuel reformer, experimental data of this type would be very useful. The results obtained from this study showed significant variations in current-voltage characteristics of HTPEMFC at different temperatures with different CO poisoning rates. The results are promising to understand the overall system performance development strategy of HTPEMFC in terms of current-voltage characteristics while fed with reformate with different CO ratios in the anode fuel stream.

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Performance of a 1kW (16-Cell) High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell Stack Prototype: An Experimental Evaluation

Volume 6: Emerging Technologies: Alternative Energy Systems; Energy Systems: Analysis, Thermodynamics and Sustainability ◽

10.1115/imece2009-11552 ◽

2009 ◽

Author(s):

Susanta K. Das ◽

Antonio Reis ◽

K. Joel Berry

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

Individual Cell ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Pure Hydrogen ◽

Fuel Cell Stack ◽

Current Voltage ◽

Current Voltage Characteristics ◽

High Temperature Pem

In this study, we designed and built a 1 kW (16-cells) stack prototype of high temperature PEM fuel cell with 440cm2 active area of each individual cell. The purpose of this research is to experimentally study the performance of our newly built high temperature PEM fuel cell stack at different operating conditions and to judge the performance for possible commercialization aspects. The performance of the fuel cell stack in terms of current-voltage characteristics has been experimentally measured for each of the cells in the 16-cell stack (1kW). Experimental data of this type is required to develop and validate the fuel cell models to understand and optimize the operation of the stack and further stack design improvements. The fuel cell stack is fed with industry-grade (99.999%) pure hydrogen. The fuel cell stack was extensively tested at 145°C and the current-voltage characteristics were determined by varying the current loads. The results will be very helpful to understand the cell performance in terms of current-voltage characteristics of 1kW PEM fuel cell stack.

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Experimental Performance Evaluation of a High Temperature PEM Fuel Cell at Different Temperatures and Pressures

ASME 2008 6th International Conference on Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology ◽

10.1115/fuelcell2008-65177 ◽

2008 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Etim U. Ubong ◽

Susanta K. Das ◽

K. J. Berry ◽

Antonio Reis

Keyword(s):

High Temperature ◽

Fuel Cell ◽

Pem Fuel Cell ◽

Proton Exchange ◽

Operating Conditions ◽

Pure Hydrogen ◽

Current Voltage ◽

Current Voltage Characteristics ◽

Temperature And Pressure ◽

High Temperature Pem

The high temperature proton exchange membranes (HT-PEM) attract growing interests due to its enhanced electrochemical kinetics, simplified pinch technology and utilization of higher CO-rich reformed hydrogen as the fuel. From the technological point of view, using pure hydrogen as fuel seems highly restrictive because hydrogen with high purity may not always be readily available. As an attractive alternative to compressed hydrogen, it is preferred to use hydrogen-rich gases as fuel. On-site generation of hydrogen using reformed fuels can be directly fed to the high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (HT-PEMFCs) without first preheating the cell with external heat source to raise the temperature to its operating temperature. Since the HT-PEMFCs performance depends strongly on temperature, the cell temperature plays an important role in its operation. The purpose of this research is to experimentally study a high temperature PEM fuel cell at steady operating conditions. In this work, the performance of the fuel cell has been experimentally examined to unravel the steady-state effects of changes in temperature and pressure at a fixed hydrogen stoichiometry and variable air stiochiometries In particular, the effects that changes in temperature and pressure have on the voltage-current characteristics. Experimental data of this type is needed to develop and validate the fuel cell models, and to help understand and optimize the operation of these devices. In this study, a cell with an active cell area of 45 cm2 based on polybenzimidazole (PBI), doped with phosphoric acid is examined over the entire temperature range of 120°C–180°C with hydrogen of 99.999% purity. The quantitative results obtained from the experiments showed variations in current-voltage characteristics at different pressure and temperatures. The results will be used as a baseline value to under-study the performance of a high temperature PEM fuel cell in terms of current-voltage characteristics, when fueled with a reformate with higher CO concentrations in our future study.

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