NUMERICAL INVESTIGATION AND EXPERIMENTAL VERIFICATION OF PROTON ELECTROLYTE MEMBRANED (PEM) ELECTROLYSER

Year 2018, Volume: 7 Issue: 1, 370 - 380, 31.01.2018

Ömer Genç Mehmet Ali Kallioğlu

https://doi.org/10.28948/ngumuh.387154

Cited By: 1

Abstract

   In this
study, the physical and the electrochemical phenomena occurred within the
proton exchange membrane (PEM) electrolysis cell and the effects of some
operating parameters such as cell voltage, current density on the cell
performance were investigated numerically and experimentally. The equations
which characterize flow, mass transfer, conservation of charge and
electrochemical reactions were solved by using COMSOL Multiphysics commercial
software. In the experimental setup, the Membrane Electrode Group (MEG) which
has 50 cm² active area, porous titanium at anode and carbon paper as
gas diffusion layer at cathode are used. The numerical results compared with
measured experimental data. It is sound that while the model satisfactorily
agrees with experimental data at low current densities, it deviates at high
current densities mainly because of isothermal assumption employed. The
numerical results have shown that the oxygen and hydrogen concentrations increase
along the channel. Also the hydrogen production starts at 1.48 V and it increase as the current density
increase. However, the voltage efficiencies of PEM electrolyser for numerical
and experimental study were found as 0.809 and 0.871, respectively.

Keywords

PEM, electrolyser, hydrogen production, mathematical modelling, COMSOL

PROTON ELEKTROLİT MEMBRANLI (PEM) ELEKTROLİZÖRÜN SAYISAL İNCELENMESİ VE DENEYSEL DOĞRULANMASI

Abstract

   Bu çalışmada Proton Elektrolit Membranlı (PEM)
elektrolizör hücresinde meydana gelen fiziksel ve elektrokimyasal olaylar ve
hücre voltajı, akım yoğunluğu gibi çalışma parametrelerinin hücre performansına
etkileri sayısal ve deneysel olarak incelenmiştir. Elektroliz hücresinde akış,
kütle transferi, şarj korunumu ve elektrokimyasal olayları karakterize eden
denklemler COMSOL Multiphysics ticari yazılımı ile çözülmüştür. Deney
düzeneğinde 50 cm² aktif alana sahip membran elektrot grubu (MEG)
kullanılırken, anotta gözenekli titanyum, katotta gaz difüzyon tabakası olarak
karbon kâğıt kullanılmıştır. Ölçülen deneysel sonuçlar hesaplanan sayısal
sonuçlarla karşılaştırılmış, özellikle yüksek akım yoğunluklarında sayısal
modelin hücre davranışını tahmininde öngörülen hata ile doğru sonuç verdiği
görülmüştür. Bu durumun modelde yapılan eş sıcaklık kabulünden kaynaklandığı
değerlendirilmiştir. Sayısal sonuçlar kanal boyunca oksijen ve hidrojen
konsantrasyonlarının arttığını göstermiştir. Hidrojen üretimi 1,48 V’da başlarken akım yoğunluğu arttıkça
hidrojen üretiminin de arttığı tespit edilmiştir. Ayrıca voltaj verimi sayısal
çözümde 0,809 iken deneyselde 0,871 olarak tespit edilmiştir.

Keywords

PEM, elektrolizör, hidrojen üretimi, matematiksel modelleme, COMSOL

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