Life Cycle Cost Analysis of the Fuel Cell Bus Based on Chinese Bus Cycle

2011 ◽  
Vol 403-408 ◽  
pp. 3220-3223
Author(s):  
Rui Chen ◽  
Ning Wang ◽  
Jun Ma

During the project: Electric Hybrid Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) Fuel Cell Transit Buses in China, the authors set up a model to calculate the life cycle cost of fuel cell bus (FCB). The model includes acquisition cost, fuel consumption cost and maintenance cost. In addition, the authors also take the government subsidies into account. After calculating, we see the cost of fuel cell is the most sensitive part of FCB life cycle cost. Using the model, we compared different bus life cycle costs. The result shows that FCB life cycle cost is 5 times more than the current diesel bus.

Author(s):  
Kevin R. Anderson ◽  
Andrew Murphy

Abstract In this study 3-D CFD modeling of a cylindrical stack Proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is provided. The H2O-O2 PEMFC uses a 10.8 mm2 area membrane and Platinum (Pt) catalyst. The paper presents the methodology for the PEMFC commercial software module, the set-up of the Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) geometry, mesh and boundary conditions. Results for the current-voltage performance curves and 3-D contour plots of the fluid, heat and species concentrations within the PEMFC are given. Results are presented for a low-temperature fuel cell using NAFION membrane and a high-temperature fuel cell using BZY membrane.


Author(s):  
Kyung Su Oh ◽  
Seungho Park ◽  
Ohmyoung Kwon ◽  
Young Ki Choi ◽  
Joon Sik Lee

The proton exchange membrane plays a critical role as an electrolyte for proton transports in the PEMFC. Generally, the membrane, such as Nafion 117, consists of a polytetrafluoro-ethylene (PTFE) backbone and side-chains terminated with a sulfonate group (SO3−). Operating the fuel cell, the membrane preferentially becomes hydrated by absorbing water. Then, the hydrogen atom on the SO3− part of the side-chain can detach from its own position and hop to the next SO3− site. The water management is the key to the efficient operation of the fuel cell, since the water content is the one of decisive factors for membrane’s lifetime and efficient operations of fuel cells as well. In this report, we set up the molecular model for hydrated Nafion 117 and simulate the molecular movements for various temperatures and monomer numbers. Here, we obtain the mean square displacements of water molecules and estimate the self-diffusion coefficients of water in the Nafion 117.


Author(s):  
Chong-Fang Ma ◽  
Hang Guo ◽  
Fang Ye ◽  
Jian Yu

As a clean, high efficiency power generation technology, fuel cell is a promising choice of next generation power device. Widely application of fuel cells will make a contribution to save fuels and reduce atmospheric pollution. In recent years, fuel cells science, technology and engineering have attracted great interest in China. There are more and more Chinese scientists and engineers embark upon fuel cell projects. The government also encourages academic institutions and companies to enter into this area. Research and development of fuel cells are growing rapidly in China. There are many chances and challenges in fuel cells’ research and development. The state of the art of research and development of fuel cells in China was overviewed in this paper. The types of fuel cells addressed in this paper included alkaline fuel cells, phosphoric acid fuel cells, molten carbonate fuel cells, solid oxide fuel cells, proton exchange membrane fuel cells and direct methanol fuel cells.


2022 ◽  
Vol 334 ◽  
pp. 09001
Author(s):  
Eleonora Bargiacchi ◽  
Felipe Campos-Carriedo ◽  
Diego Iribarren ◽  
Javier Dufour

Hydrogen systems are gaining importance in view of a progressive decarbonisation of societies, and becoming more and more cost-competitive alternatives in many sectors (e.g., mobility). However, the sustainability of these technologies must be carefully assessed following a holistic approach which embraces not only environmental but also social aspects. Social Life Cycle Assessment (S-LCA) is an insightful methodology to evaluate potential social impacts of products along their life cycle. In the frame of the project eGHOST, social risks of a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) stack were assessed through an S-LCA. The functional unit was defined as one 48 kW stack (balance of plant excluded), targeted for mobility applications. The supply chain was defined assuming Spain as the manufacturing country and involving from the material/energy production plants to the stack manufacturing. Beyond conventional life cycle inventory data, trade information and additional inventory data were retrieved from the UN Comtrade and PSILCA databases, respectively. Besides, working hours for the manufacturing plants of the stack and its subcomponents were calculated based on literature data. Social life cycle inventories were modelled and evaluated using openLCA and the PSILCA method. Two stakeholder categories, workers and society, were considered through the following social indicators: child labour, contribution to economic development, fair salary, forced labour, gender wage gap, and health expenditure. The choice of these indicators is in line with the eGHOST project purpose. Despite the relatively small amount contained in the product, platinum clearly arose as the main social hotspot under each of the selected indicators. At the level of component plants, the manufacturing of bipolar and end plates was also found to be relevant under some indicators. On the other hand, electricity consumption generally accounted for a minor contribution. Overall, in order to avoid burden shifting from environmental to social issues, a careful design of technologies is needed.


Author(s):  
L. G. Do Val ◽  
A. F. Orlando ◽  
C. E. R. Siqueira ◽  
J. Oexmann

A 5 kW proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) with a reformer has been installed and tested at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio), Brazil, aiming the experimental determination of its performance and co-generation potential to increase the fuel chemical energy usage. The unit uses a fuel processor to convert energy from natural gas into hydrogen rich reformate. The fuel cell is totally instrumented, supplying data for calculating the overall system efficiency (total efficiency), reformer efficiency, stack efficiency, conversion efficiency (DC/AC), and co-generation potential, at previously set up output powers of 2,5 kW and 4 kW. The paper details the equations required for calculating the parameters, both theoretically, from thermodynamics and electrochemics points of view, and experimentally, from mass and energy balances, comparing the results. Steady state data were taken at 13 different days, resulting in reformer, stack, conversion and total average efficiencies, together with the calculated standard deviation. It was also found that the energy loss in the reformer and in the stack are approximately the same. The co-generation potential was estimated by calculating the heat rejected by the stack and the heat rejected in the reformer, giving a value of 67,5% and 68,9%, respectively for 2,5 kW and 4 kW. Therefore, co-generation can substantially reduce the fuel cell energy cost, and thus increasing the feasibility of its use.


Author(s):  
Emad G. Barakat ◽  
Ali K. Abdel-Rahman ◽  
Mahmoud A. Ahmed ◽  
Ahmed Hamza H. Ali

The performance of Proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) has been experimentally investigated. An experimental set-up was designed to study the effects of operating parameters such as cell temperature, gas humidification, and cell operating pressure on the performance of fuel cell. The results indicated that the output power increase with the increase of humidification ratio. Furthermore, an increase of cell pressure results in a significant increase of cell power. The results indicated that increasing of the temperature leads to a decrease of cell power. The results are explained and discussed in more details for different operational parameters.


Volume 1 ◽  
2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luca Andreassi ◽  
Stefano Cordiner ◽  
Massimo Feola ◽  
Fabio Romanelli

Fuel cells (FC) technology applied to energy production could represent an effective solution to face greenhouse gas emissions and to differentiate energy sources. However, real performances of FC systems still represent a critical issue in the definition of an assessed and economically competitive technology. In fact, FC performances depend on many variables such as temperature, pressure, current, membrane humidification, stoichiometry of the reactant gas, etc.; additionally, many of these influencing parameters depend one on the other, further complicating the analysis. Numerical simulation could greatly contribute to a better understanding of the influence of design parameters. Nevertheless, the availability of experimental data to validate and to verify the numerical models is an imperative issue. The primary target of the research activity described in this paper is the set up of an experimental test bench for Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEM FC) at the Department of Mechanical Engineer of the University of Roma Tor Vergata aiming to completely test 8 cells 0.1 kW stack: the measured data are fundamental to validate the numerical models which have been developed by the Authors following different hierarchical levels (both semi-empirical and dimensional analytical approach) with different predictive capabilities. This apparatus allows the control of the reactant gas mass flow rates, stack pressure, humidity, current, temperature and voltage. In this way it is possible to assess a mixed experimental-numerical methodology allowing a tuning procedure for the developed models making a wide use of dedicated experimental data. The preliminary results in terms of comparisons between experimental and computational data show a good agreement even by varying some of the most performance-affecting parameters such as operating pressure and temperature.


2007 ◽  
Vol 539-543 ◽  
pp. 74-79 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dave Ghosh ◽  
Shao Hong Wu

National Research Council (NRC) as the premier research and development organization within the government of Canada has the mandate of providing vital scientific and technological services to research and industrial communities. The NRC Institute for Fuel Cell Innovation (IFCI) is leading NRC’s National Fuel Cell Program and is working closely with academic, government, and industrial organizations to support fuel cell cluster in Vancouver and across Canada and to fulfill the innovation needs of Canadian fuel cell companies. The key programs at IFCI include: Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cells (PEMFC), Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC), Hydrogen generation and infrastructure, and technology demonstration. NRC-IFCI’s impact on the fuel cell industry can be seen through the development and transfer of targeted and collaborative research projects addressing strategic and current technical gaps and providing infrastructure for research, development and demonstration. IFCI has been a catalyst in the coordination of industry’s responses to current commercialization barriers. This paper presents the latest research and development activities as well as demonstrations at NRC-IFCI.


2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ling Jun Tan ◽  
Chen Yang ◽  
Nana Zhou

A hybrid system that combines a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) with a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is presented in this paper. The SOFC stack acts as both an electricity producer and the fuel reformer for the PEMFC stack to generate additional power. A thermoeconomic model for the design optimization of a 220 kW SOFC-PEMFC hybrid system is developed in this work. Optimization of two objectives, i.e., the life cycle cost and the net electrical efficiency, are considered individually to find the optimum system configuration and component designs. Then, a multiparameter sensitivity analysis is performed to estimate the relative importance of the decision variables on the objectives. The optimization results indicate that the life cycle cost of the hybrid system is 3800–5,600 $/kW, and the maximum net electrical efficiency can reach around 63%, which is higher than an SOFC-only system, a reformer-PEMFC system, and an SOFC-gas turbine (GT) system with a similar output power. The sensitivity analysis shows that minimizing the size of the SOFC is most crucial to the system cost optimization. The hydrogen utilization factor in the SOFC is found to be sensitive to the net electrical efficiency.


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