An Electrochemical Hydrogen Compression Model

The electrochemical hydrogen compressor (EHC) is a new system that can produce compressed purified H2 out of a complex mixture of gases, which includes no moving parts and mechanical losses, and operates isothermally. The simulation of this system is the focus of this work in order to produce a zero-dimensional, steady-state EHC model for process design in commercial tools such as AspenPlus™. The model calculates the overall voltage by considering the Nernst voltage, the Ohmic losses, and the activation overpotentials. The required power and cooling load are thereafter evaluated, while taking into account the water management. The inclusion of the aforementioned phenomena results in an EHC system that considers several operating parameters and could be readily used for process integration.

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