Fuel Cell Exercises

Exercise II

Fuel Cell Exercises

Exercise II
Consider a PEMFC producing 7 kW power at 0.7 V.
For a pressure of 1 bar, at 298 K (G = - 237.2 kJ/mol) for the above
fuel cell running on pure hydrogen and air (21mol% O2). Also consider
the
= 1.0 (fuel utilization) and
= 0.2 (Oxygen utilization).

Calculate:
a) Oxygen required for the reaction
b) Hydrogen consumed
c) Water produced
d) Outlet oxygen flow and flow composition.
e) Equivalent cell resistance for a current density of 2500 A/m2
f) N of cells required if each cell has an equivalent area of 400 cm2

Fuel Cell Exercises

Exercise II
Mass of reacting species

= 2 for

=4

Fuel Cell Exercises

Exercise II
Solution:
Calculate the current,
!

=" =

"

7000
= 10% &
0.7

And then the molar flow,

)

() ,* +,-

./0
%12%34

/ (this flow is only the oxygen that reacts with

= 0.026

hydrogen to form water steam)

7)

<)

8) ,* +,-

8) (,=* >

10%
=
=2
2 96485
10%
=
=
2 96485

= 0.052

8)

= 0.052

Fuel Cell Exercises

Exercise II
Solution:
= 0. 2, that means 80% of the oxygen exits the without reacting,

() , ?-! -

= 0.8

() ,AB! -

= 0.8

(),CDEFG

0.2

= 0.104

Flow composition in outlet of cathode: Mix of water, nitrogen and unreacted

oxygen.
Water steam flow calculated in c) and oxygen calculated above.
Nytrogen (assuming air composed by 79% N2 and 21% O2) :
H)

= 0.79

+A*,AB! -

= 0.79

() ,AB! -

0.21

= 0.79

() ,* +,-

0.2 0.21

Outlet composition: 75.85% N2; 16.1% O2; 8.05% H2O

= 0.49

Fuel Cell Exercises

Exercise II
Refresh
Nernst voltage and Gibbs free energy

"B

*BI-

L/ N O
+

P8 P(/.4 Q
/
P8 (
Q

Where,
P8) < <R ST SU V hydrogen in anode
P() < <R ST SU V _PLR U < S` R
P8)( < <R ST SU V a SRT U < S` R
Q/ S
T bTR cTR
Q bTR cTR U VcR <R

/.4

Fuel Cell Exercises

Exercise II
Refresh
Voltage dependence
" = "-d

*e

" deA, "+,-Af+-A

",

B, B-*+-A B

Where,
" VcR <R g S LR
_U c g S LR <`URg 7 R U VcR <R (OCV), not nernst voltage
"-d *e
" deA, g S LR T b cR S ` U< TR U S <R
" f *= - B-A+! g S LR T b cR S <SUg SU TR U S <R
",d+*h -*+BI * g S LR T b cR S < <R ST SU TR U S <R
" deA, , "+,-Af+-A B and ", B, B-*+-A
equation above can be written as,
" = "-d

*e

UN

i?Af

Where
U current density and
N i?Af equivalent resistance

depend directly on the current density and then the

Fuel Cell Exercises

Exercise II
Solution:
e) First we need to determined (if needed) the concentration of the species at inlet of the fuel cell

P8) ( = 0.05 (good approximation if no water is suppied)

P() = 0.21
P8) = 1
Calculation of the nernst voltage
"*

j kl //
12%34

3.k.% 13

./. .m.n

12%34

/./4

../.k /.4

../.k

= 1.257"

(note: in our calculations if no information about the OCV is given, the nernst potential should be
used instead)
And then the equivalent resistance,
N

i?Af

"*

" 1.257 0.7

=
= 2.23 10j% `
U
2500

Fuel Cell Exercises

Exercise II
Solution:
f) Calculation of the total area of the fuel cell

&-

-+!

O S <cTTR S ( )
10%
=
=
= 4
<cTTR S R USP (U) 2500

Number of cells if area per cell is 400 cm2

q,

!!I

&- -+!
4
=
= 100 <R
&, !!
400 10j%

Fuel Cell Exercises

Exercise II

Refresh
!

=" =

"

Maximum work that can be obtained is Gibbs free energy

s =

"

" = s /