How can life cycle assessment foster environmentally sound fuel cell production and use?

Zucaro, Amalia; Fiorentino, Gabriella; Zamagni, Alessandra; Bargigli, Silvia; Masoni, Paolo; Moreno, Anna Maria Coves; Ulgiati, Sérgio

doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2012.09.066

Cited by 26 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 18 publications

(20 reference statements)

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“…The environmental impacts were assessed using the CML-IA baseline V3.02 method. This method was used previously by Zucaro et al (2013) in a LCA of a molten carbonate fuel cell, which is in accordance with the guideline for performing LCAs on fuel cells (Masoni and Zamagni, 2011).…”

Section: Environmental Impact Assessment Methodsologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental assessment of proton exchange membrane fuel cell platinum catalyst recycling

Duclos

Lupsea

Mandil

et al. 2017

Journal of Cleaner Production

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International audienceA proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cell, an alternative to combustion processes that consume fossil resources, is used to convert energy stored in the form of hydrogen into electricity. The membrane-electrode assembly (MEA), the core of this system, contains platinum, a noble metal, which is a limited resource. This paper presents an environmental assessment of a recycling process for the platinum catalyst contained in the MEA of a PEM fuel cell. During this study, four hydrometallurgical platinum recovery processes from Pt/C particles have been developed at the laboratory scale. The considered process alternatives are composed of the four following steps: leaching, separation, precipitation and filtration. Approximately 76% of the platinum can be recovered as [NH4]2PtCl6 salt using the most efficient process alternatives. In this case, platinum leaching is carried out with a mixture of H2O2 and HCl, followed by liquid/liquid platinum extraction and a precipitation step.The environmental assessment was performed using the SimaPro 8 tool coupled with the EcoInvent 3.1 database. The environmental impacts were estimated for a 25 cm2 active area MEA considering the production and end-of-life stages of the MEA life-cycle using the CML-IA baseline V3.02 method. The results show that more than half of the main impacts of the MEA life-cycle can be avoided for four relevant impact categories if platinum is recovered in the end-of-life of the product

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Section: Environmental Impact Assessment Methodsologymentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental assessment of proton exchange membrane fuel cell platinum catalyst recycling

Duclos

Lupsea

Mandil

et al. 2017

Journal of Cleaner Production

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“…The LCI datasets for system manufacturing (stack + balance of plant) are compiled through a combination of scaled literature data [4,8,41], lab-scale data, consultation with engineers and use of data of similar products [43,44]. In the inventory, data for pre-fabrication of materials used (e.g.…”

Section: Life Cycle Inventory (Lci)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Other components were of a less relevance. Replacing materials for the reformer or use of "green" hydrogen can substantially decrease or even withdraw reformer impacts [8]. Gerboni et al [39] highlighting the importance of carbon dioxide (CO2) emission (main contributor to GWP) during the operation phase.…”

Section: Life Cycle Impact Assessment -Recipe 2016mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The LCA comprehensively quantifies and assesses the emissions, resources consumed, and pressures on health and the environment the whole product life cycle [7]. Several studies have been undertaken to investigate the environmental performance of MCFCs through the use of LCA, in order to understand to what extent these are environmentally sound, to what extent they can be improved and what steps and components require attention [8].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Alkaner and Zhou [11] performed an LCA of an MCFC energy plant for marine applications compared to a benchmark conventional diesel engine using only airborne emission and four impact indicators for evaluation. Zucaro et al [8] using a multi-impact analysis with seven environmental impact categories performed an LCA of an MCFC power system. These studies provided valuable insights, however, a gap of knowledge in most previous studies exists because of limited impact categories considered [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Exergetic, environmental and economic sustainability assessment of stationary Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells

Mehmeti

Pérez-Trujillo

Elizalde‐Blancas

et al. 2018

Energy Conversion and Management

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In this study, exergetic, environmental and economic (3E) analyses have been performed in order to provide sustainability indicators from resource extraction to the final product of stationary power Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells (MCFC) systems (500 kW). Two environmental life cycle impact assessment methods have been selected: the ReCiPe 2016 hierarchical midpoint and endpoint, and the Cumulative Exergy Extraction from the Natural Environment (CEENE). A cost-benefit model is adopted to calculate the economic sustainability using the levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) under different sensitivity parameters. The global warming potential (GWP) is estimated to be 0.549 kg CO2-eq/kWh while acidification (5.06e-4 kg SO2-eq/kWh), eutrophication (9.81e-4 kg Peq. freshwater/kWh), ozone layer depletion (4.11e-6 kg CFC-11-eq/kWh) and human toxicity (1.07 kg 1,4-DB-eq/kWh). Aggregated CEENE was estimated to be about 8.55 MJex/kWh. Results show that majority of impacts are dominated by fuel supply, while some others are dominated by manufacturing of system. GWP is the only impact category dominated by system operation. Due to potentially high electrical efficiency, MCFC energy systems can lead to lower CEENE and improvements of global warming, fossil fuel and resource scarcity, and photochemical oxidant formation potential with respect to other conventional energy conversion systems. Advances in longer lifetimes of the MCFC stack can help trigger innovation in manufacturing processes and will lead to less resource use of electricity, metal, and minerals, thus less resource scarcity and toxicity related burdens. The baseline LCOE is calculated 0.1265 €/kWh being comparable with the Italian grid (0.15-0.16 €/kWh). The costing results indicate that the unit decreasing the system capital cost could potentially reduce the LCOE by around 25%. Advancing the use of life-cycle thinking in MCFC industry with site-specific data raise systems credibility and enables clarifying the trade-offs between the sustainability pillars, thus designing more sustainable products.

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Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Development in China: An Industry Chain Perspective

Zhao

Hao

et al. 2020

Energy Tech

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Hydrogen fuel cell vehicle (FCV) technology has significant implications on energy security and environmental protection. In the past decade, China has made great progress in the hydrogen and FCV industry considering both the government's policy issuances and enterprises’ production. However, there are still some technological and cost challenges obstructing the commercialization of FCVs. Herein, the status of China's hydrogen FCV industry is analyzed comprehensively from three perspectives: policy support, market application, and technology readiness level. The unique characteristics and key issues in each part of the industry chain are emphasized. Furthermore, the energy, environmental, and economic performances of FCV in the life‐cycle perspective are reviewed and summarized based on pre‐existing literature and reports. The life‐cycle analysis of hydrogen and FCV indicates that the energy and environmental impacts of FCVs are highly related to the sources of hydrogen. With the combination of industry status and technology performances, it is highlighted that technology advancements in hydrogen production and fuel cells and the optimization of the manufacturing processes for fuel cell systems are equally essential in the development of hydrogen FCVs.

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How can life cycle assessment foster environmentally sound fuel cell production and use?

Cited by 26 publications

References 18 publications

Environmental assessment of proton exchange membrane fuel cell platinum catalyst recycling

Environmental assessment of proton exchange membrane fuel cell platinum catalyst recycling

Exergetic, environmental and economic sustainability assessment of stationary Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells

Hydrogen Fuel Cell Vehicle Development in China: An Industry Chain Perspective

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