Application of Photo-Electrochemically Generated Hydrogen with Fuel Cell Based Micro-Combined Heat and Power: A Dynamic System Modelling Study

Abstract

Photo-electrochemical (PEC) hydrogen generation is a promising technology and alternative to photovoltaic (PV)-electrolyser combined systems. Since there are no commercially available PEC cells and very limited field trials, a computer simulation was used to assess the efficacy of the approach for different domestic applications. Three mathematical models were used to obtain a view on how PEC generated hydrogen is able to cover demands for a representative dwelling. The analysed home was grid-connected and used a fuel cell based micro-CHP (micro-combined heat and power) system. Case studies were carried out that considered four different photo-electrode technologies to capture a range of current and possible future device efficiencies. The aim for this paper was to evaluate the system performance such as efficiency, fuel consumption and CO 2 reduction capability. At the device unit level, the focus was on photo-electrode technological aspects, such as the effect of band-gap energy represented by different photo-materials on productivity of hydrogen and its uncertainty caused by the incident photon-to-current conversion efficiency (IPCE), which is highly electrode preparation specific. The presented dynamic model allows analysis of the performance of a renewable energy source integrated household with variable loads, which will aid system design and decision-making.

A Review of Inorganic Photoelectrode Developments and Reactor Scale‐Up Challenges for Solar Hydrogen Production

“…Ways for avoiding major losses associated with suboptimal orientation of (photo)electroactive surfaces relative to each other, high material resistivity, and complications due to bubble evolution must be explored more proactively. Furthermore, reactor design should be supplemented with numerical models of: 1) Microkinetics – the prediction of photocurrent generated by a chosen combination of materials as a function of light intensity; [ 134,313,350–355 ] 2) macrokinetics – accounting for the spatial distributions of electrode kinetics, management of heat imparted by solar photons, changes in the chemical composition of the electrolyte, effect(s) of bubbles, product separation; [ 110,134,313,314,326 ] 3) systems model – for determining the BoP required to support the operation of the PEC reactor, including the means by which the H 2 product is collected and transferred to energy storage systems; [ 356,357 ] 4) technoeconomic model – for determining how cost‐effective the system is, given the combined set of parameters that characterize its performance (discussed in Section 5).…”

On-Demand Hydrogen Generation by the Hydrolysis of Ball-Milled Aluminum–Bismuth–Zinc Composites

“…Although hydrogen is abundant on earth, it does not occur naturally in its pure form and has to be processed to be converted to an energy carrier [ 1 , 2 ]. Numerous processes are employed to produce hydrogen from various source materials, e.g., electrochemical, [ 3 ] photo-electrochemical, [ 4 , 5 ] photo-chemical, [ 6 ] photo-biological, [ 4 , 7 ] photo-catalytical, [ 4 , 8 ] partial hydrocarbons oxidation, [ 9 ] photo-thermochemical, [ 10 ] and niche and nanoparticle-assisted biological methods [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 ].…”

Türkiye'de Müstakil Bir Konut İçin Kurşun-Asit Pil Destekli Yakıt Pilinin Tekno-Ekonomik Analizi

“…Although there are different types, the most suitable type that can be used for a smaller residential application is Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM). In addition, the produced heat and water can also be used in cogeneration to increase efficiency (Li et al, 2020;Ronaszegi et al, 2020). These fuel cells have the main advantages such as high efficiency in electricity generation, noiseless operation compared to fossil fuel generators, and not producing environmentally harmful chemical wastes (Dorer et al, 2005).…”