Performance evaluation of a proof-of-concept 70 W internal reforming methanol fuel cell system

Avgouropoulos, George; Schlicker, S.; Schelhaas, Karl-Peter; Papavasiliou, Joan; Papadimitriou, K.; Theodorakopoulou, Eleni; Gourdoupi, N.; Machocki, Andrzej; Ioannides, Theophilos; Kallitsis, Joannis K.; Kolb, Gunther; Neophytides, Stylianos G.

doi:10.1016/j.jpowsour.2016.01.029

Cited by 33 publications

(25 citation statements)

References 17 publications

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“…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%

“…Recently, Avgouropoulos et al demonstrated the functionality of an internal reforming methanol fuel cell (IRMFC), where the methanol gets reformed by a catalyst incorporated into the anode compartment of a high temperature polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (HT‐PEMFC) single cell. The IRMFC has several advantages such as simplifying the system, increasing overall efficiency, reducing the weight and volume of the system and so on, which has potential applications in portable or stationary power supply system.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…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 first is generally a monolithic reformer such as foamed copper carrying CuMnOx or CuMnAlOx proposed by Avgouropoulos et al The reformer per milliliter with 0.54 g catalysts can only supply less than 4 mL/min hydrogen at 473 K with more than 90% methanol conversion. When converting the hydrogen production to the active area of the MEA, the MEA per square centimeter can get less than 2 mL/min hydrogen, thus limiting the power density of the IRMFC single cell to less than 0.120 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: 88%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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“…The main reaction products of this reaction are hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Such mixture after removal of the traces of carbon monoxide can be used in the low-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) or even directly in the Internal Reforming Methanol Fuel Cell (IRMFC) for electricity production [18]. Better insight into the properties of chromium-modified zinc oxide supports may bring progress in the development of new catalysts for the steam reforming of methanol.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Chromium-modified zinc oxides

Gac

Zawadzki

Słowik

et al. 2016

J Therm Anal Calorim

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Zinc oxides modified with chromium were prepared by the co-precipitation method. Samples were calcined at 400°C. Structural and surface properties of materials were studied by means of transmission electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction and low-temperature nitrogen adsorption methods. Temperature-programmed reduction methods were used for investigation of the influence of chromium on the redox properties of zinc oxides. The nature of surface sites and the course of surface reactions occurred during methanol decomposition were determined by the temperature-programmed desorption of methanol with detection of evolved gasses by mass spectrometry and in situ diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy. We have found that modification of ZnO with chromium led to the increase of the specific surface area of oxides and decrease of mean crystallite size of ZnO. Partial incorporation of chromium ions to the hexagonal ZnO structure, formation of strongly dispersed spinel (ZnCr 2 O 4 ) and chromium zinc oxide species (ZnOÁCrO 3 ) was observed. We have stated that methanol was adsorbed on the surface of ZnO at 100°C mainly via formation of methoxy species, and the main products of methanol desorption were carbon monoxide and hydrogen. The presence of chromium facilitated direct oxidation of methoxy groups to formate species at low temperatures (*100°C) and their transformation to hydrogen and carbon dioxide during temperature-programmed desorption. The enhanced transformation of methoxy to formate species was attributed to the labile oxygen in chromium-modified zinc oxides.

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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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Performance evaluation of a proof-of-concept 70 W internal reforming methanol fuel cell system

Cited by 33 publications

References 17 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

Chromium-modified zinc oxides

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

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