Experimental characterization of a modular combined heat and power unit based on high temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cells and natural gas fuel processor

In a target application for domestic energy supply, combined heat and power (CHP) units based on high temperature proton exchange membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cells promise a higher electrical eciency in comparison to competing technologies. In this work, the performance of a new generation HT-PEM based modular CHP unit is presented. The CHP concept is using a flexible fuel input with hydrogen and syngas from natural gas steam reforming. In a rst step, the natural gas red fuel processor performance at different temperatures, steam to carbon ratios and fuel input is examined. In a second step the performance of the fuel cell is described. The experimental results show a degradation rate of 6.59 V h{1 over a period of 1100 h on short stack level with 7 cells. The 80 cell full stack performance at begin of life is analyzed including statistical analysis of single cell voltages under hydrogen and syngas operation. In a third step, the complete system performance is described including electrical, thermal and overall eciencies for each operation mode. Download full text

DOI: 10.13140/RG.2.2.20975.97449

reliability, proton exchange membrane fuel cell