Control Oriented Dynamic Rigorous Model of a Fuel Processor System and Fuel Cell Stack

Abstract Dynamic rigorous model of a complete plant of a Fuel Processor System (FPS) that reforms bio-ethanol to hydrogen-rich mixture to feed the anode of a fuel cell stack, along with a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell (PEM-FC) is presented. This is the first work that deals with this kind of integrated plant and is used to analyze the dynamic behavior and then propose a suitable control structure. The model can be implemented thanks to the use of a specific communication protocol between HYSYS® and MATLAB® to coordinate the calculations. The heat integration is achieved with the ‘LNG’ tool, available at HYSYS®, which applies the pinch analysis and provides an approximation of the optimal heat exchanges that can minimize the auxiliary services in steady state mode. It allows to assume that the stream temperatures are always at their optimum values, so their complex dynamic effects are neglected in this first problem approximation. On the other hand, the dynamic behavior of the reactors are modeled in MATLAB® including the PEM. The main objectives of the FPS control are to maintain H2 levels on the anode of the FC, retain low CO levels at the inlet stream of the anode, and keep the temperatures of the reactors set and FC under rigorous specifications.