Reducing environmental impacts of the ups system based on PEM fuel cell with circular economy

Stropnik, Rok; Sekavčnik, Mihael; Férriz, A. M.; Mori, Mitja

doi:10.1016/j.energy.2018.09.201

Cited by 38 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 36 publications

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“…It can be observed that these eight countries account for two thirds of the total number of African LCA publications. This highlights the fact that currently only [111] Electric energy 1 kWh of produced electric energy Primary data/Gabi/Ecoinvent v3.1 CML2001 Morocco [112] Automotive headrest 1 headrest for automotive seating Primary data/Ecoinvent IMPACT 2002+ Morocco [113] hybrid solar/biomass micro-cogeneration 1 kWh of electricity Primary data/WIOD/EORA ILCD Morocco [114] Solar water heater Utilization during one year Primary data Other Morocco [115] Waste Water Treat effluent of one population equivalent for one day Primary data ReCiPe midpoint 2014 Mozambique [116] Jatropha oil 1 MJ of energy in the form of jatropha oil or fossil diesel Primary data/Existing literature Other Mozambique [117] Biomass power plant 1-GJ pellets delivered to a combined heat and power (CHP) plant…”

Section: Articless Published Per Yearmentioning

confidence: 91%

“…Another type of biodiesel is made using palm oil [35], where the results for Cameroon confirmed this tendency with a reduction of 70% compared with conventional fuel in the range of 60-80 g CO 2 /MJ. Proton-exchange membrane fuel cells have also received attention; however, the results found in Morocco [111] were much higher than those in Norway (4040 g CO 2 vs. 239 g/kWh) due to the electricity generation primarily based on fossil fuels for hydrogen production.…”

Section: A Focus On Lca For Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Status of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Africa

et al. 2021

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Life cycle assessment (LCA) has received attention as a tool to evaluate the environmental impacts of products and services. In the last 20 years, research on the topic has increased, and now more than 25,000 articles are related to LCA in scientific journals databases such as the Scopus database; however, the concept is relatively new in Africa, where the number of networks has been highlighted to be very low when compared to the other regions. This paper focuses on a review of life cycle assessments conducted in Africa over the last 20 years. It aims at highlighting the current research gap for African LCA. A total of 199 papers were found for the whole continent; this number is lower than that for both Japan and Germany (more than 400 articles each) and nearly equal to developing countries such as Thailand. Agriculture is the sector which received the most attention, representing 53 articles, followed by electricity and energy (60 articles for the two sectors). South Africa (43), Egypt (23), and Tunisia (19) were the countries where most of the research was conducted. Even if the number of articles related to LCA have increased in recent years, many steps still remain. For example, establishing a specific life cycle inventory (LCI) database for African countries or a targeted ideal life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) method. Several African key sectors could also be assessed further.

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Section: Articless Published Per Yearmentioning

confidence: 91%

Section: A Focus On Lca For Energymentioning

confidence: 99%

Status of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Africa

et al. 2021

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“…The production, maintenance, and EoL of the micro‐CHP are, in global terms, small contributors to the impacts, except for human health. An uninterrupted‐power‐supply (UPS) system based on a PEMFC was studied throughout its whole life cycle by Stropnik et al Three EoL scenarios were assumed, where the base case scenario assumes only a landfilling process, the feasible scenario was based on the greatest possible theoretical recycling and reuse possibilities without landfilling, and the realistic scenario included all three processes. The results showed that the EoL phase has a lower environmental impact compared with the other phases.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical materials in PEMFC systems and a LCA analysis for the potential reduction of environmental impacts with EoL strategies

Stropnik

Lotrič

Montenegro

et al. 2019

Energy Science & Engineering

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Commonly used materials constituting the core components of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs), including the balance‐of‐plant, were classified according to the EU criticality methodology with an additional assessment of hazardousness and price. A life‐cycle assessment (LCA) of the materials potentially present in PEMFC systems was performed for 1 g of each material. To demonstrate the importance of appropriate actions at the end of life (EoL) for critical materials, a LCA study of the whole life cycle for a 1‐kW PEMFC system and 20,000 operating hours was performed. In addition to the manufacturing phase, four different scenarios of hydrogen production were analyzed. In the EoL phase, recycling was used as a primary strategy, with energy extraction and landfill as the second and third. The environmental impacts for 1 g of material show that platinum group metals and precious metals have by far the largest environmental impact; therefore, it is necessary to pay special attention to these materials in the EoL phase. The LCA results for the 1‐kW PEMFC system show that in the manufacturing phase the major environmental impacts come from the fuel cell stack, where the majority of the critical materials are used. Analysis shows that only 0.75 g of platinum in the manufacturing phase contributes, on average, 60% of the total environmental impacts of the manufacturing phase. In the operating phase, environmentally sounder scenarios are the hydrogen production with water electrolysis using hydroelectricity and natural gas reforming. These two scenarios have lower absolute values for the environmental impact indicators, on average, compared with the manufacturing phase of the 1‐kW PEMFC system. With proper recycling strategies in the EoL phase for each material, and by paying a lot of attention to the critical materials, the environmental impacts could be reduced, on average, by 37.3% for the manufacturing phase and 23.7% for the entire life cycle of the 1‐kW PEMFC system.

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“…Table 17 represents the inventory for proton exchange membrane electrolysers (PEMEs) and fuel cells (PEMFCs) end of life management, electrochemical devices composed of the same materials that are partially recovered [19].…”

Section: Experimental Design Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Table 18 represents the inventory for platinum recovery from PEMEs and PEMFCs membranes as, even if the use of this rare material could be impactful for the environment, it was not considered in Ref. [19].…”

Section: Experimental Design Materials and Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life Cycle Inventory datasets for nano-grid configurations

et al. 2020

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Datasets concerning some user-scale Smart Grids, named Nano-grids, are reported in this paper. First several Solar Home Systems composed of a photovoltaic plant, a backup generator and different types of lithium-ion batteries are provided. Then, the inventory analysis of hybrid Nano-grids integrating batteries and hydrogen storage is outlined according to different scenarios. These data inventory could be useful for any academic or stakeholder interested in reproducing this analysis and/or developing environmental sustainability assessment in the field of Smart Grids. For more insight, please see “Environmental analysis of a Nano-Grid: a Life Cycle Assessment” by Rossi F, Parisi M.L., Maranghi S., Basosi R., Sinicropi A. [1].

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Reducing environmental impacts of the ups system based on PEM fuel cell with circular economy

Cited by 38 publications

References 36 publications

Status of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Africa

Status of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in Africa

Critical materials in PEMFC systems and a LCA analysis for the potential reduction of environmental impacts with EoL strategies

Life Cycle Inventory datasets for nano-grid configurations

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