Evaluation of Impurity Concentration Process and Mitigation Operation in Fuel Cell System for Using Biogas

Abstract

For a low-carbon society, it is necessary to extract hydrogen for fuel cells from biogas rather than from fossil fuels. However, impurities contained in the biogas affect the fuel cell; hence, there is a need for system and operation methods to remove these impurities. In this study, to develop a fuel cell system for the effective utilization of biogas-derived hydrogen, the compositional change and concentration of impurities in the hydrogen recirculation system under actual operation were evaluated using process simulation. Then, the mitigation operation for performance degradation using simple purification methods was evaluated on the proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) stack. In the process simulation of the hydrogen recirculation system, including the PEMFC stack, the concentration of impurities remained at a level that did not pose a problem to the performance. In the constant voltage test for a simulated gas supply of biogas-derived hydrogen, the conditions for applying the methanation reforming and air bleeding methods were analyzed. As a result, methanation reforming is more suitable for supplying biogas-containing CO to the PEMFC stack for continuous operation.

The Operating Parameters, Structural Composition, and Fuel Sustainability Aspects of PEM Fuel Cells: A Mini Review

“…A PEMFC of 48 cells, under a temperature of 65 • C, was supplied with green hydrogen, which represented 60% of the total gas percentage, while the hydrogen was derived from biogas by an anaerobic digestion process. Finally, the PEMFC generated 1190 W at 41 A [163]. It should be noted in this context that, among the available power sources (e.g., batteries, fuel cells), fuel cells, in particular, are characterized by a high theoretical efficiency [164].…”

Conversion of Post-Refining Waste MONG to Gaseous Fuel in a Rotary Gasifier

“…A large variety of solutions have been suggested, including gasification [43] or conversion into liquid fuels [44,45], but transformation into gaseous fuels is expected to have the largest application potential. This opens the potential of use of gaseous fuels for the generation of heat and power in existing systems, substitution replacement of natural gas with purified process gas [46], or to use purified process gas to operate fuel cells [47].…”

Editorial for Special Issue “Hydrogen Production and Storage”

“…The best result was obtained for the sample prepared from a polymer mixture by KOH thermochemical activation with an adsorption capacity of 7.5 wt% [3]. Concerning the processes able to produce hydrogen, a first study concerns the use of biogas to feed a fuel cell and the suitable role of methanation to reduce the impact of the biogas impurities (CO) on the fuel cell [4]. The design and operation of a methanol steam microreformer is studied in another paper, with the use of a micro heat-exchanger reactor coupling combustion channels and reforming channels, allowing an almost isothermal behavior of the reactor to be obtained [5].…”