Heat integration of methanol steam reformer with a high-temperature polymeric electrolyte membrane fuel cell

Ribeirinha, Paulo; Alves, Isabel; Vázquez, Francisco Vidal; Schuller, Gerhard; Boaventura, Marta; Mendes, Adélio

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2016.11.101

Cited by 56 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 38 publications

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“…From the previous research, it can be inferred that when 0.7 mL/min methanol aqueous solution (H 2 O/CH 3 OH = 1.5) is fed, the methanol conversion can reach 100% and the reforming products approximately contain H 2 (66%), CO 2 (22%), CO (1%), H 2 O (11%). The effect of CO 2 dilution can be mitigated since the single cell works at 473 K and the hydrogen production is excessive (1.5@1.4 A/cm 2 ), which is also found by Waller and Mendes et al The poisoning effect of CO with presence of CO 2 can be relieved by certain water content in the products and higher working temperature (473 K) . Additionally, certain water content have a positive effect on proton conductivity due to inhibiting the dehydration of phosphoric acid …”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 74%

“…reformer, the methanol conversion and the H 2 production increase. When the bed length increases to 1.5 L to load 0.45 g/mL reformer catalysts, the reformer per milliliter can reach 9.8 mL/min hydrogen at 453 K with more than 95% methanol conversion, almost twice as much as that by Mendes et al with nearly one‐third of their catalyst loading. It is enough to make a HT‐PEMFC single cell with an active area of 45 cm 2 discharge at 1 A/cm 2 at 453 K and more than 2 A/cm 2 at 473 K. When integrating the reformer into an IRMFC single cell shown in Figure C, the pressure drop of the single cell anode is enhanced by less than 40% under N 2 feed at 473 K. In practical applications, the maximum pressure drop of IRMFC single cell anode will be less than 0.2 bars.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 85%

“…As described above, power density of the optimized IRMFC single cell reached 0.45‐0.55 W/cm 2 at 453‐473 K under CH 3 OH solution and air feed, the highest since IRMFC single cell in existing reports generally worked at 0.1‐0.36 W/cm 2 . In addition, stability of the optimized IRMFC single cell was also investigated.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

“…To avoid the negative effects of phosphoric acid and unconverted methanol, a second kind of IRMFC adding a nonporous thin plate between the reforming catalyst and the HT‐PEMFC MEA is put forward . As shown in Figure A, it mainly includes a reformer and a HT‐PEMFC single cell.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The third proposed by Mendes et al is a three‐channel serpentine packed bed reformer made of gold‐plated aluminum or graphite, usually carrying commercial CuO/ZnO/Al 2 O 3 catalyst. The reformer per milliliter with 1.3 g catalyst can offer 5 mL/min hydrogen at 453 K and the HT‐PEMFC MEA per square centimeter can get 6 mL/min hydrogen, thus expanding the power density of the IRMFC single cell to 0.330 W/cm 2 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Performance enhancement by optimizing the reformer for an internal reforming methanol fuel cell

Yang

et al. 2019

Energy Science & Engineering

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Internal reforming methanol fuel cell (IRMFC) has potential applications in portable or stationary power supply system, but currently performance of the IRMFC is limited by the low hydrogen production of its reformer. In order to produce more hydrogen with less volume, in this paper a single channel serpentine packed bed reformer was designed, and its bed size was optimized by experiment and numerical simulation to enhance heat transfer and increase catalyst utilization. It was found that with the bed diameter from 5.8 mm down to 3.8 mm, the reformer temperature distribution was more uniform but the bed pressure drop increased a lot. Considering performance and pressure drop, the reformer of 5 mm was optimal, per milliliters of which could supply 9.8 mL/min hydrogen at 453 K, almost twice as much as that by A. Mendes et al with one‐third of their catalyst loading. The reformer was quite stable, and less than 10% decline in methanol conversion was observed during the 100 hours period at 473 K. When incorporated into an IRMFC single cell, power density of the single cell reached 0.45‐0.55 W/cm2 at 453‐473 K under CH3OH solution and air feed, the highest in existing reports. The main drawback has to do with low stability of the IRMFC single cell at high current density.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 74%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 85%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Performance enhancement by optimizing the reformer for an internal reforming methanol fuel cell

Yang

et al. 2019

Energy Science & Engineering

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High Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells for Integrated Fuel Cell – Methanol Reformer Power Systems: A Critical Review

Zhang

Xiang

et al. 2018

Advanced Sustainable Systems

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be generally divided into low temperature fuel cells such as alkaline fuel cells (AFCs), polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFCs) and high temperature fuel cells such as molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFCs) and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs). Due to their high power-output, fast start-up/shut-down cycles and continuous power supply mode, PEMFCs are particularly applicable as energy sources in portable electronic devices, communication and transportation applications. [1] The core component of PEMFCs is the membrane-electrode-assembly (MEA), which consists of a proton conducting polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) sandwiched between anode and cathode catalyst layer. In the case of hydrogen fuel, H 2 is oxidized at the anode and protons are transported through the PEM to the cathode. At the cathode, protons are combined with electrons flew through external circuit, reducing ambient oxygen to water. The operation principle of a PEMFC is illustrated in Figure 1. Perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membranes such as Nafion are the most common and successful PEMs for low temperature PEMFCs (i.e., operation at 80 °C or below) and possess a high acidity, high conductivity (e.g., for Nafion 117, conductivity can be as high as ∼0.1 S cm -1 at 30 °C and 100% relative humidity [2] ), and high chemical and structural stability. [3] However, Nafion membrane must be fully hydrated in order to have the high proton conductivity and the stable operation of Nafion membrane based fuel cells because its proton conductivity decreases rapidly with the decrease in relative humidity (RH). [4] Thereby, the operation temperatures are limited to 80 °C or below under ambient pressure in order to maintain a high water content in the membrane. As proton transport requires an aqueous medium or water to maintain the high conductivity, water management is critical for the stable operation of Nafion based PEMFCs. In the case of transportation applications, water-based PEMFC stacks also require adequate heat management, e.g., large radiators/heat exchangers to extract the heat. Another critical issue for PFSA membrane based PEMFCs is the requirement of high purity H 2 as the Pt based electrocatalysts shows a very low resistance to the fuel The development of reliable power sources is important for the continuous operation of various electric equipment in unmanned aircraft and the field environment. Currently electric power delivery to such systems is mainly by battery packs. An alternative is to use fuel cells (FCs). FCs are electrochemical devices that are used to convert chemical energy of fuels such as hydrogen and methanol to electricity. Methanol is an attractive fuel because it is liquid at ambient temperature, has a much higher energy density than hydrogen and low reforming temperature (220-300 °C). Thus, integration of methanol steam reformers (MSRs) with FCs makes it possible to continuously produce electricity. The key challenge in such power system is the development of fuel cells which can be effe...

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Steam Reforming of Methanol, Ethanol and Glycerol over Catalysts with Mesoporous Supports: A Comparative Study

Bepari

Abrokwah

Deshmane

et al. 2021

Catalysis for Clean Energy and Environmental Sustainability

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Heat integration of methanol steam reformer with a high-temperature polymeric electrolyte membrane fuel cell

Cited by 56 publications

References 38 publications

Performance enhancement by optimizing the reformer for an internal reforming methanol fuel cell

Performance enhancement by optimizing the reformer for an internal reforming methanol fuel cell

High Temperature Polymer Electrolyte Membrane Fuel Cells for Integrated Fuel Cell – Methanol Reformer Power Systems: A Critical Review

Steam Reforming of Methanol, Ethanol and Glycerol over Catalysts with Mesoporous Supports: A Comparative Study

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