On-board removal of CO and other impurities in hydrogen for PEM fuel cell applications

    Authors

    C. P. Huang; R. C. Jiang; M. Elbaccouch; N. Muradov;J. M. Fenton

    Comments

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    Abbreviated Journal Title

    J. Power Sources

    Keywords

    carbon monoxide (CO); removal; electrolysis; hydrogen; PEM fuel cell; SELECTIVE OXIDATION; EXCESS HYDROGEN; Electrochemistry; Energy & Fuels

    Abstract

    Carbon monoxide (CO) in the hydrogen (H-2) stream can cause severe performance degradation for an H-2 polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. The on-board removal of CO from an H-2 stream requires a process temperature less than 80 degrees C, and a fast reaction rate in order to minimize the reactor volume. At the present time, few technologies have been developed that meet these two requirements. This paper describes a concept of electrochemical water gas shift (EVGS) process to remove low concentration CO under ambient conditions for on-board applications. No on-board oxygen or air supply is needed for CO oxidation. Experimental work has been carried out to prove the concept of EWGS and the results indicate that the process can completely remove low level CO and improve the performance of a PEM fuel cell to the level of a pure H-2 stream. Because the EWGS electrolyzer can be modified from a humidifier for a PEM fuel cell system, no additional device is needed for the CO removal. More experimental data are needed to determine the rate of CO electrochemical removal and to explore the mechanism of the proposed process. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

    Journal Title

    Journal of Power Sources

    Volume

    162

    Issue/Number

    1

    Publication Date

    1-1-2006

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    563

    Last Page

    571

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000242059700068

    ISSN

    0378-7753

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