Fuel cell life cycle assessment

The environmental evaluation of the different fuel cell system is performed through the life cycle assessment (LCA) method where an investigation of the complete life cycle is performed to ensure that no environmental aspect is neglected. Higher environmental operation standards for modern energy 

The two key elements of an LCA of the fuel cell system are the assessment of the entire life cycle of the fuel cell system and the assessment of a variety of environmental impacts because of it. The first step is the goal and scope definition, in which the system, the intended application, the data sources, and system boimdaries are described and the functional unit, that is, the reference of all related inputs and outputs, is defined. The criteria for selecting input and output flows or processes have to be specified, hi this step, the data quality requirements time-related and geographical coverage the consistency, representativity, and imcertainty of the data and the critical review procedure have to be described. 

Inputs and outputs of fuel cell production in terms of its life cycle. (Pehnt, M. Life cycle analysis of fuel cell system components. In Handbook of Fuel Cells—Fundamentals, Technology, and Applications (ISBN 0-471-49926-9), W. Vielstich, A. Lamm, and H.A. Gasteiger (eds.), Vol. 4, pp. 1293-1317, 2003. Copyright Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH Co. KGaA. Reproduced with permission.) 

For the overall assessment of mobile fuel cells, fuel production is of high importance. Not only do the questions of storage systems and costs for fuel production or infrastructure considerations have to be answered, but the environmental impacts for the different fuels are of importance as well. 

Essential for systems LCA are the assumed electrical and thermal efficiencies, which differ according to the system and the fuel cell type. The potentially high electrical efficiency of fuel cell power plants is a major advantage of 

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Hussain, M.M., I. Dincer and X. Li, A preliminary life cycle assessment of PEM fuel cell powered automobiles. Appl. Thermal Eng., 27,2294-2299, 2007. 

Lunghi, P., Bove, R. (2003). Life cycle assessment of a molten carbonate fuel cell stack. Fuel Cells 3,224-230. 

Pehnt, M. (2001). Life-cycle assessment of fuel cell stacks. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy 26, 91-101. 

Granovskii M, Dincer I, Rosen MA (2006) Life cycle assessment of hydrogen fuel cell and gasoline vehicles. Int J Hydrogen Energ 31 337-352... 

Life cycle assessment studies demonstrate the potentialities of vehicles powered by fuel cells in terms of both total emission and energy consumption reduction [40-42]. 

Life cycle assessment of fuel cell-based APUs. J. Power Sources, 139 (1-2),... 

Foley, J.M., Rozendal, R.A., Hertle, C.K., Lant, P.A., and Rabaey, K. (2010) Life cycle assessment of high-rate anaerobic treatment, microbial fuel cells, and microbial electrolysis... 

Staffell I, Ingram A (2010) Life cycle assessment of an alkaline fuel cell CHP system. Int J Hydrogen Energy 35 2491-2505. doi 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2009.12.135... 

Especially for mass applications such as automotive, a full life cycle assessment (LCA) is absolutely critical. Since there are a lot of embedded resources such as noble metal catalysts and energy for manufacturing fuel cells, LCA very much depends on aspects such as recyclability and lifetime. For the operation period itself, cost, performance, and durability issues are important. But a complete picture must also consider aspects of specific applications including how they are connected in future energy scenarios. 

Life cycle assessment of SOFC technology is still uncommon due to the relatively early stage in technical development. However, several studies have been performed since the end of the 1990s. Since there is a lack of standard commercial equipment that could serve as a basis and reference point for analysis, LCA studies mostly refer to hypothetical concepts and/or extrapolate from laboratory and early market prototypes to commercial units. While the first studies had only little access to operation data at aU (for the fuel cell system itself but also for production processes), the main effort was set in the assessment of inventory data using assumptions, simplifications, and correlations [79, 80]. The main outcomes of these studies were the identification of weak points and the setting of benchmarks for further development. With more information about fuel cells available today and a simultaneous advancement in LCA methodology, the studies became more reliable and detailed, regarding system description [81] as well as the assessment of environmental impacts coimected with inputs and outputs [82]. Especially the extensive data of these two studies found their way to commercial databases for LCA [83] and thereby became available to LCA practitioners. In 2005, the Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU)... 

Key words fuel cells, proton exchange membrane fuel cell, PEMFC, recycling, life cycle assessment, LCA. 

Note This chapter is a revised and extended version of Chapter 13 Recycling and life cycle assessment of fuel cell materials by J. Smith Cooper, originally published in Materials for Fuel Cells, ed. M. Gasik, Woodhead Publishing Limited, 2008, ISBN 978-1-84569-330-5. 

Recycling and life cycle assessment of fuel cell materials 119... 

Elter, J., J.S. Cooper (2007) Sustainability tools Applying life cycle assessment A fuel cell case study, American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) and American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE) Sustainable Engineering Series, 5th Session. 

A fuel cell power generation system consists of several components besides the fuel cell such as a fuel processor and a power conditioner/inverter. The fuel processor is the first step of the conversion of fuel into an electrical current Typically, a fuel processor utilizes a combination of steam reforming (SR) and partial oxidation (POX) methods to convert hydrocarbons (methane, natural gas) into the pure hydrogen necessary as input to the fuel processor. During this process, the fuel processor also should strip the input gas of its pollutants such as carbon and carbon monoxide. The fuel processor is one of the areas in which the greatest environmental threat can occur because of this. There are a number of other considerations to be taken into account when examining the environmental impact and life cycle assessment of fuel cell power generation system such as axillary equipment and their economic and environmental impact (Kordesch and Simader 1995 van Rooijen 2006 Tromp 2002). 

Schafer, A., J.B. Heywood, A. Malcolm, Weiss, Future fuel cell and internal combustion engine automobile technologies A 25-year life cycle and fleet impact assessment. Energy, 31, 2064-2087,2006. 

The actual work required for making a life-cycle analysis and assessment of a technology such as fuel cells may be summarised in the following way ... 

Pehnt M (2003) Assessing future energy and transport systems the case of fuel cells. Part 2 environmental ptaformance. Int J Life Cycle Ass 8(6) 365-378... 

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