Production and use of low grade hydrogen for fuel

cell telecom applications

Fuel cells and hydrogen in transportation applications

9.10.2017, Espoo, Finland

Pauli Koski, VTT

29/10/2017

Outline

1. On-site hydrogen production from liquid hydrocarbons

Background

H2 production and purification

Case: Bioethanol fueled system

2. Applications in transport sector

Distributed/on-board H2 generation

By-product gas upgrading

3. Summary

1. On-site hydrogen

production from liquid

hydrocarbons

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Background and motivation

In applications where electricity is scarcely available,

diesel generators are still the de facto standard

Back-up power for critical infrastructure:

Telecom, hospitals, military, …

Off-grid power:

Mines, construction sites, telecom, …

Reductions in CO2 emissions are needed

Particulate and NOx emissions are a problem in

densely populated areas

Base station at Ridnitšohkka

Lapland Finland*

Pictures: * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Ridnit%C5%A1ohkkan_tukiasema.jpg

** https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Aurora_Diesel_Generator.png

Diesel generator for

back-up power**

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Background and motivation

H2 fuel cells provide a solution to generate

power without harmful emissions

H2 infrastructure not be available allover

Logistics cost is still an issue!

Liquid hydrocarbons + on-site H2 generation

Lower logistics costs in remote sites

Methanol & ethanol as common fuels

Fuel processing system needed

CO2 emitted in the process

Fuel cell powered

back-up system

for telecom

applications*

(Ballard/Idatech)

Picture: * https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:FuelCellSystem.jpg

Two 50 L cylinders of H2

@ 200 bar : 198.8 MJ

10 L of ethanol (92.4 w-%

EtOH): 186.6 MJ

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Fuel cells on telecom market - PEMFC based

Proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs)

Proton conducting polymer membrane as electrolyte

High power density, 50 - 60 % efficiency, 60 - 100 °C

Uses hydrogen as primary fuel (1 - 20 ppm CO)

Direct Methanol Fuel Cell (DMFC)

Can use methanol directly as liquid fuel

Lower power density, 40 - 60 °C

10 - 500 W, ~25 % efficiency, 5000 h lifetime

Reformed Methanol Fuel Cell (RMFC)

Internal methanol reformer and high temperature

PEMFC stack, 100 - 200 °C

35 - 45 % efficiency 2 - 10 kW scale, 5000 h lifetime

Pictures: * https://www.efoy-pro.com/sites/default/files/161018_data_sheet_efoy_pro_12000_duo_en.pdf

** http://serenergy.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/H3-2500-5000-48V_datasheet_v2.0-0916.pdf

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Fuel processing - On-site H2 generation from liquid hydrocarbons

Reforming

Splitting the primary fuel into H2 and CO

Steam reforming (SR), partial oxidation

(POx), autothermal reforming (ATR)

Synthesis gas conditioning

Water Gas Shift (WGS)

CO + H2O → CO2 + H2

Polishing

Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA)

Preferential Oxidation (PrOx)

Permeable membranes

With PEM fuel cells, CO level is crucial!

Polishing

Conditioning

Reforming

PEMFC

Fuel

~10 % CO

~1 % CO

<< 100 ppm

syngas

H2

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Development of an integrated power system

Crude bioethanol as fuel

Cost < 2 500 €/kW @ 500 units

System efficiency > 30%

System lifetime > 20 000 h

Extensive laboratory testing

and limited field trial (~1000 h)

Roadmap for commercialization

3.5 years EU project 5/2014 – 10/2017

4.6 M€ budget, funded by FCH JU

Coordinated by VTT, 5 partners

PEMBeyond - PEMFC system and low-grade bioethanol processor

development for back-up and off-grid power applications

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Reformed Ethanol Fuel Cell: 2 kW H2 Generator + 7 kW Fuel Cell

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Conclusions: Reformed Ethanol Fuel Cell prototype

For short duration back-up applications (<100 h/year), diesel

generator wins (hydrogen fueled PEMFC also an option!)

Compared to diesel generator in off-grid applications (20 000 h),

reformed ethanol system offers same life cycle cost, and 63% of the

CO2 emissions with market bioethanol

Bridging the gap between CO level in produced hydrogen and the

PEMFC stack CO tolerance has required large efforts

Very efficient PSA adsorbent developed, surpassing any

commercial alternatives, ~10 ppm CO vs. 0.2 ppm

Fuel cell and H2 production systems can be used separately

Due to flexibility of the PSA and SR catalyst, can be also applied to

methanol or methane as fuel feed, not only ethanol

2. Applications in

transport sector

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Distributed and on-board hydrogen generation

Hydrogen refueling stations (HRSs):

Fuel flexibility: Methanol, Ethanol, Methane

The same hydrogen generator may be used for

the fuel that is locally available

Heavy duty transport:

Replacing diesel engines in marine vessels,

locomotives and trucks

Electrification not possible with batteries

Liquid fuels easier to store and have higher

energy density

Fuel processing system takes more space,

viable on long distances without refueling

Picture: * US Department of Energy: http://www.flickr.com/photos/37916456@N02/9787447046

Shell HRS and GM fuel cell vehicle*

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By-product gas upgrading

Chlor-alkali plants in Europe

293 735 tons of by-product H2 ≈ 1 Mtoe (2014)

Commonly vented or used for heat production

Quality not good enough for automotive, but

may be used for stationary fuel cells

PSA + low quality H2 feed → Automotive H2 fuel

University of Porto developed pressure swing

adsorbent can easily upgrade the gas stream

1 MW worth of by-product hydrogen → 200 fuel

cell vehicles*

Replaces fossil fuels, more income to chlor-

alkali industry

359 Mtoe consumed in transport sector (2015)

* 30 kW per vehicle, 4 hours per day

Lab scale PSA unit used at

University of Porto.

3. Summary

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Summary

On-site/on-board production of hydrogen allows the use of easily

transported and stored fuels in variety of applications

Compared to combustion, higher efficiency, lower air pollution

Fuel processing system needs space

The fuel needs to be produced in a sustainable way

If electricity and/or hydrogen infrastructure is available, these

should be primarily used

Liquid hydrocarbons only for remote applications / long

distances, where diesel engines/generators are currently used

Hydrogen production and purification technology may be applied for

distributed hydrogen generation from methane/methanol/ethanol or

to upgrade low quality hydrogen streams

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Aknowledgement

The research leading to these results has received funding from

the European Union's Seventh Framework Programme

(FP7/2007-2013) for the Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint

Technology Initiative under grant agreement n° 621218.

We wish to thank HyGear for their collaboration with PSA unit

manufacturing, and St1 and Altia for providing bioethanol samples

Thank you for

your interest!

http://pembeyond.eu/

Contact person:

Pauli Koski, VTT

pauli.koski@vtt.fi

+358 40 687 8638