Development of an operation strategy for hydrogen production using solar PV energy based on fluid dynamic aspects

Alkaline water electrolysis powered by renewable energy sources is one of the most promising strategies for environmentally friendly hydrogen production. However, wind and solar energy sources are highly dependent on weather conditions. As a result, power fluctuations affect the electrolyzer and cau...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Open Engineering (Warsaw) 2017-01, Vol.7 (1), p.141-152
Main Authors: Amores, Ernesto, Rodríguez, Jesús, Oviedo, José, de Lucas-Consuegra, Antonio
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
alkaline water electrolysis
energy storage
fluid dynamic conditions
hydrogen production
modelling
polarization curve
renewable energy
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Alkaline water electrolysis powered by renewable energy sources is one of the most promising strategies for environmentally friendly hydrogen production. However, wind and solar energy sources are highly dependent on weather conditions. As a result, power fluctuations affect the electrolyzer and cause several negative effects. Considering these limiting effects which reduce the water electrolysis efficiency, a novel operation strategy is proposed in this study. It is based on pumping the electrolyte according to the current density supplied by a solar PV module, in order to achieve the suitable fluid dynamics conditions in an electrolysis cell. To this aim, a mathematical model including the influence of electrode-membrane distance, temperature and electrolyte flow rate has been developed and used as optimization tool. The obtained results confirm the convenience of the selected strategy, especially when the electrolyzer is powered by renewable energies.
ISSN:2391-5439
2391-5439
DOI:10.1515/eng-2017-0020