Reducing the Cost and Prolonging the Durability of Hydrogen Fuel Cell Systems by in-situ Hydrogen Purification and Technology Hybridization (HyFCap)

氢和燃料电池为一体化的“开放能源系统”开辟了道路，这些系统可以同时应对所有主要的能源和环境挑战，并具有灵活性，以适应2030年欧洲将提供的多样化和间歇性的可再生能源。氢氟碳化物对于较小规模的固定电力和运输系统都具有许多优势，如安静运行、低自放电、高能量密度和延长行驶里程。然而，与其他燃料系统相比，这些燃料系统在经济上尚不具竞争力，例如用于平衡电网的开循环燃气轮机、用于家庭存储的锂电池，以及用于运输的高压缩比柴油发动机。燃料电池系统成本上升的两个重要原因是：1)燃料电池动力的资本成本(kW-1)；以及2)延长资产寿命所需的高纯度氢的成本，特别是当氢由车载氢化物水箱供应时。这项建议将寻求通过以下方式解决这两个问题：1)燃料电池与超级电容器的混合，以减少对燃料电池动力能力的需求(从而降低资本成本)并提高动力效率；以及2)通过高选择性和高介电常数的固体吸附膜来开发原位氢净化器，以延长燃料电池的寿命。这两个问题也代表了两个关键的空白/问题，它们还没有得到相关的超级发电联盟(氢气和储能)和HFC中心的EPSRC资助。该联盟的成员在超级电容器、氢气储存和净化、电力工程设计和管理方面拥有互补的专业知识，这将潜在地导致这些领域的完全整合，并帮助我们开发一种新的设计和氢燃料电池(HFC)和超级电容器(SC)的优化集成，以实现高效、低成本和低碳的电力系统。

Hydrogen and fuel cells open the way to integrated "open energy systems" that simultaneously address all of the major energy and environmental challenges, and have the flexibility to adapt to the diverse and intermittent renewable energy sources that will be available in the Europe of 2030. HFCs offer a number of advantages for both smaller scale stationary power and transport systems, such as quiet operation, low self-discharge, high energy density and extended driving ranges. However, these are not yet economically competitive with other fuel systems such as open cycle gas turbines for balancing electrical grids, Li-based batteries for domestic storage nor high compression ratio diesel engines for transport. Two important contributions to the elevated costs of fuel cell systems are: 1) the capital cost of fuel cell power (kW-1); and 2) the cost of the high purity H2 needed to extend asset lifetime especially when the hydrogen is supplied by an on-board hydride tank.This proposal will seek to address both problems by: 1) the hybridisation of fuel cells with supercapacitors, to reduce the demand (hence the capital cost) for fuel cell power capacity and increase power efficiency; and 2) the development of in-situ hydrogen purifiers by means of highly selective and high-permittivity solid-sorbent membranes, to increase the lifetime of the fuel cell. These two issues also represent two critical gaps /issues that have NOT been funded in the relevant SUPERGEN consortia (Hydrogen and Energy Storage) and the HFC Hub by the EPSRC.Members of the consortium are with complementary expertise in supercapacitors, hydrogen store and purification, power engineering design and management, which will potentially lead to a complete integration of these area and help us to develop a novel design and optimum integration of hydrogen fuel-cell (HFC) and supercapacitor (SC) for an efficient, low-cost and low-carbon power system.