Effect of Ammonia Contained in Hydrogen Fuel on PEMFC Performance

Abstract

Single-cell test and exhaust gas analysis were conducted to determine the effect of NH3 in hydrogen fuel on the performance of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells. To prevent nitrogen from air mixing with the exhaust gas, 50 ppm NH3 in hydrogen was supplied to the anode, and a mixture of O2 (21%) and Ar (79%) instead of air was supplied to the cathode. The cell was operated under a current density of 1000 mA/cm2 at 80 °C. Ion chromatography, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and quadrupole mass spectroscopy were performed to analyze the exhaust gas from the anode and cathode. Analysis revealed that most of the NH3 supplied to the anode migrated to the cathode and was emitted as NH4+, N2, N2O, and NO. This result indicates that nitrogen-containing compounds that migrate from the anode to the cathode may affect the oxygen reduction reaction of the cathode.

Catalyst degradation under different test and poisoning conditions – Comparison parameters definition to map the effects on proton exchange membrane fuel cell voltage

“…The phenomenon eventually results in a decrease in cell voltage. The consequences can vary depending on the amount of contaminant and on operating conditions; besides, in some cases, consequences can be partially recovered by dedicated procedures, such as a small percentage of O 2 can be injected together with the H 2 to preferentially oxidize CO and partly remove it from the CL at the anode [70][71][72]; cyclic voltammetry scanning can recover cells performance after H 2 S or SO 2 contamination [73,74]; the injection of pure hydrogen after a poisoning phenomenon can in some cases be sufficient to improve cells performance [75]. However, a residual cell voltage loss is permanent and leads to a reduction in the useful life of PEMFC.…”

Electrochemical hydrogen compression and purification versus competing technologies: Part II. Challenges in electrocatalysis

“…In 2011, Imamura et al [55] characterized the exhaust gas of a cell fuelled with hydrogen and 50 ppm NH3. Nearly no ammonia in the anode exhaust was detected, while NH3 and other nitrogen compounds were measured at the cathode exhaust (Fig.…”

Simulation and Study of PEMFC System Directly Fueled by Ammonia Decomposition Gas

“…Since ammonia can poison the acidic proton exchange membrane and the cathode catalyst (Imamura et al, 2011;Lopes et al, 2014), PEMFC is very sensitive to ammonia. The residual amount of ammonia in the fuel should be less than 0.1 ppm (Miyaoka et al, 2018), so ammonia cannot be used directly in PEMFC.…”