Hydrogen, a clean and renewable energy source, is a promising substitute for fossil fuels. Electricity-driven water electrolysis is an attractive pathway for clean hydrogen production. Accordingly, the development of electrolysis cells has drawn researchers’ attention to capital costs related to noble catalyst reduction and membrane degradation by the contaminations. In the literature, polymer electrolyte membranes (PEMs) have been studied on single cations contamination. In this study, we investigated the performance of a PEM on monovalent and divalent cation contamination by feed water. Artificial river water, called soft water, was used to analyze the effect of impurities on the PEM. The results demonstrated that the operating voltage drastically increased and induced cell failure with increasing Mg2+ and Ca2+ concentrations; however, it did not increase for Na+ and K+ after increase in voltage. Therefore, divalent cations have a stronger affinity than monovalent cations to degrade PEM and should be effectively excluded from the feed water.
Power to gas (P2G) process chains have tremendous potential to enhance energy systems because of the capability of solar energy to convert solar radiation into electrical energy as well as the increasing use of specific gases as a means to store the resulting energy. Utilizing sunlight, photovoltaic systems are capable of producing useful gases such as hydrogen (H2) and methane (CH4). These gases are utilized in gas grids, transportation, and heavy industry. In employing a sunlight-derived gas, H2 production, by water disbanding, needs to be cost-effective with tremendous adaptability. New powerful solar to gas conversion system modules have been successfully carried out in the University of Miyazaki, Japan. These systems contain DC/DC converters and electrolyzer sets linked in parallel with efficient three concentrator photovoltaics (CPV). The performance of the solar to methane conversion process and power consumption analysis will be the focus of the current research. Efficiencies of 97.6% of CO2 to CH4 conversion and 13.8% for solar to methane on a clear sunny day were obtained by utilizing highly efficient CPV modules connected with multiple converters, electrochemical cells, and reactors fixed with Ni-based catalysts.
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