SBIR Phase I: High Efficiency Electrochemical Compressor Cell to Enable Cost Effective Small-Scale Hydrogen Fuel Production and Recycling

该小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目解决了当前氢气压缩的局限性，并通过回收含有水和其他良性杂质的废氢，减少了几种应用的氢气需求。该项目将证明质子交换膜（PEM）为基础的设备作为一个高效率的电化学压缩机/净化器的可行性。在基于质子交换膜的氢泵中，与先前研究相比的优点包括使用微孔板来改善水分布，这将实现更均匀的流体分布和高电流密度。这一阶段的目标包括示范的原型细胞，确定作为输出压力的函数的原型装置的分离效率，并开发设计边界优化阶段2和集成到一个系统中。将利用电池堆设计经验沿着改进的板技术，以解决由于局部膜干燥而导致的电流限制。预期的结果将是改进的氢回收器，这将使氢生产成本大幅降低，并带来新的市场机会。该项目更广泛的影响/商业潜力包括从发电厂到热处理到备用电源和燃料的应用。例如，全世界有超过16，000个发电厂在涡轮机绕组中使用氢作为冷却流体。目前，露点的增加会导致冷却效率显著降低，并使风阻损失增加几个百分点，需要吹扫氢气室并增加回填产量。因此，产生了大量的能源浪费。目前用于氢气压缩的解决方案也是噪音大、体积大且效率低的。在氢被评估为替代燃料的应用中，需要高压储存。拥有一台尺寸和材料成本仅为家用加油或备用电源设备一半的机械压缩机在商业上是不可行的。所提出的装置有机会将产生纯氢所需的能量减少75%，而不是从水中产生额外的氢，并且即使在高电流密度下也能以低至100 mV的过电位压缩氢。这些领域的进展将立即引起商业兴趣，并解决政府议程上与节能和绿色技术有关的关键战略领域。

Review Analysis This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project addresses current limitations in hydrogen compression and enables reduction in hydrogen requirements for several applications through recycling of exhaust hydrogen containing water and other benign impurities. This project will demonstrate the feasibility of operating a proton exchange membrane (PEM)-based device as a high efficiency electrochemical compressor/purifier. Advantages over previous research in PEM-based hydrogen pumps include use of a microporous plate for improved water distribution, which will enable more uniform fluid distribution and high current densities. The objectives of this phase include demonstration of a prototype cell, determining the separation efficiency of a prototype device as a function of output pressure, and developing design boundaries for optimization in Phase 2 and integration into a system. Cell stack design experience along with the improved plate technology will be utilized in order to address current limitations due to local membrane dryout. The anticipated result will be an improved hydrogen recycler which will enable substantial reduction in hydrogen production cost and new market opportunities. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project includes applications ranging from power plants to heat treating to backup power and fueling. For example, over 16,000 power plants worldwide use hydrogen as a cooling fluid in the turbine windings. Currently, increases in dew point cause significant decreases in cooling efficiency and increase windage losses by several percent, requiring purging of the hydrogen chamber and increased production to backfill. Thus, significant energy waste is generated. Current solutions for hydrogen compression are also noisy, bulky, and inefficient. In applications where hydrogen is being evaluated as an alternative fuel, high pressure storage is needed. Having a mechanical compressor that represents half of the size and material cost of a home fueling or backup power device is not commercially feasible. The device proposed has the opportunity to decrease the energy required to produce pure hydrogen by 75% over generating additional hydrogen from water, and to compress the hydrogen with as little as 100 mV of overpotential even at high current density. Advances in these areas would find immediate commercial interest, and address key strategic areas on the government agenda related to energy savings and green technology.