Fuel cell contaminants impurities

The effect of impurities on fuel cells, often referred to as fuel cell contamination, has been identified as one of the most important issues in fuel cell operation and applications. Studies have shown that the component most affected by contamination is the MEA [3]. Three major effects of contamination on the MEA have been identified [3,4] (1) the kinetic effect, which involves poisoning of the catalysts or a decrease in catalytic activity (2) the conductivity effect, reflected in an increase in the solid electrolyte resistance and (3) the mass transfer effect, caused by changes in catalyst layer structure, interface properties, and hydrophobicity, hindering the mass transfer of hydrogen and/or oxygen. 

Fuel cell contamination is a significant concern for PEM fuel cell operation and applications. Understanding the effects and mechanisms, and providing predictable tools to account for the influence of impurities on fuel cell performance, are the objectives of contamination modeling. 

Many impurities other than those discussed here may also affect both the anode and the cathode reactions in fuel cells. Gaseous impurities are known to be the most serious factors (see also chapters Air Impurities and Performance and Durability of PEM Fuel Cells Operating with Reformate ) at the fuel cell anode and the cathode. In this chapter, those impurities were excluded from discussion, and only the impacts of cationic and organic substances (that may occur as water-soluble species) on the ORR were considered, but the results indicated that these contaminants were equally serious problems for fuel cell degradation. 

Gasifiers typically produce contaminants that need to be removed before entering the fuel cell anode. These contaminants include H2S, COS, NH3, HCN, particulate, and tars, oils, and phenols. The contaminant levels are dependent upon both the fuel composition and the gasifier employed. There are two families of cleanup that can be utilized to remove the sulfur impurities hot and cold gas cleanup systems. The cold gas cleanup technology is commercial, has been proven over many years, and provides the system designer with several choices. The hot gas cleanup technology is still developmental and would likely need to be joined with low-temperature cleanup systems to remove the non-sulfur impurities in a fuel cell system. For example, tars, oils, phenols, and ammonia could all be removed in a low-temperature water quench followed by gas reheat. 

The emergence of commercial fuel cell cars will depend on developments in membrane technology, which are about one third of the fuel cell cost. Improvements are desired in fuel crossover from one side of a membrane to the other, the chemical and mechanical stability of the membrane, undesirable side reactions, contamination from fuel impurities and overall costs. 

To reach a better CO conversion, it is possible to add a low-temperature shift reactor, which increases the CO2 capture rate (see also Fig. 10.3). If both clean CO2 for storage and clean hydrogen for fuel cell applications are required, a combination of a C02-capture plant (e.g., absorption with Rectisol) and a PSA plant is necessary. If only pure hydrogen is required, a PSA unit would be sufficient (and is standard practice), but the C02 stream would be contaminated by impurities, such as H2, N2 or CO, which have to be removed for geological storage. 

Once the plate starts to corrode, many problems appear to affect performance and durability, even serious failure, of fhe fuel cells. For example, fhe interface contact resistance between the corroded metal plates and GDL will increase to reduce the power output. The corrosion products (mainly various cations) will contaminate the catalyst and membrane and affect eir normal functions because the polymer membrane essentially is a strong cation exchanger and the catalyst is susceptible to the ion impurity. Hence, adding a corrosion-resistant coating to the metal plate will almost inevitably assure the performance and long-term durability of a sfack. 

Zhang J, Wang H, Wilkinson DP, Song D, Shen J, Liu ZS (2005) Model for the contamination of fuel cell anode catalyst in the presence of fuel stream impurities. J Power Sources 147 58-71... 

When producing hydrogen as the final product, impurities such as CO, sulfur compounds, and other trace contaminants must be removed, particularly for application in fuel cells. Currently, pressure swing adsorption (PSA) is commonly used for the separation and purification of hydrogen from mixed gas streams. PSA systems are based on selective adsorbent beds. The gas mixture is introduced to the bed at an elevated pressure and the solid adsorbent selectively adsorbs certain components of the gas mixture, allowing the unadsorbed components, in this case hydrogen, to pass through the bed as purified gas. 

The dominant type of PEMFC is the hydrogen/oxygen fuel cell, in which the anode is fed by hydrogen and the cathode is fed by oxygen or air. In this section, we will focus our attention on anode catalyst contamination caused by impurities in the hydrogen stream. 

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