Effect of nitrogen and carbon dioxide as fuel impurities on PEM fuel cell performances

Ionics, Volume 19, Issue 2 , pp 351-354
Effect of nitrogen and carbon dioxide as fuel impurities on PEM fuel cell performances
N. Nachiappan, G. Paruthimal Kalaignan, G. Sasikumar
1. Department of Applied Chemistry, Sri Venkateswara College Of Engineering, Pennalur, Sriperumbudur, 602105, Tamil Nadu, India
2. Department of Industrial Chemistry, Alagappa University, Karaikudi, 630 003, Tamil Nadu, India
3. Department of Chemical Engineering, Sri Venkateswara College Of Engineering, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India
Abstract
Polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cells have the highest power density of all the fuel cells. They operate on hydrogen fuel, produced most often by reforming of hydrocarbons, and may contain large amounts of impurities, including carbon dioxide, nitrogen, and trace amounts of carbon monoxide.
Researchers investigated the effect of dilution of hydrogen gas with carbon dioxide on PEM fuel cells with polarization studies. The polarization curves differed when hydrogen gas was diluted with identical quantities of carbon dioxide and nitrogen. This may be caused by carbon monoxide formation by reverse shift reaction and poisoning of anode platinum catalyst. They observed that the use of Pt–Ru alloy catalyst suppresses the poisoning.
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