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

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目解决了目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气氢气，减少了几种应用对氢气的需求。该项目将展示质子交换膜（PEM）装置作为高效电化学压缩机/净化器的可行性。与之前的研究相比，基于pem的氢泵的优点包括使用微孔板来改善水的分布，这将使流体分布更均匀，电流密度更高。该阶段的目标包括演示原型单元，确定原型设备的分离效率作为输出压力的函数，并为第二阶段的优化和集成到系统中开发设计边界。电池堆设计经验以及改进的板技术将被利用，以解决目前由于局部膜干化造成的限制。预期的结果将是一个改进的氢气回收器，这将大大降低氢气生产成本和新的市场机会。该项目的广泛影响/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16000座发电厂在涡轮机绕组中使用氢作为冷却液。目前，露点的增加会导致冷却效率显著降低，并使风损增加几个百分点，这就需要对氢气室进行净化，并增加产量以进行回填。因此，产生了大量的能源浪费。目前氢压缩的解决方案也很嘈杂，体积庞大，效率低下。在氢被评估为替代燃料的应用中，需要高压储存。拥有一个机械压缩机的尺寸和材料成本只有家用燃料或备用电源设备的一半，在商业上是不可行的。与从水中产生额外的氢相比，该装置有机会将产生纯氢所需的能量降低75%，并且即使在高电流密度下，也可以用低至100 mV的过电位压缩氢。这些领域的进步将立即带来商业利益，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.