A novel industrial magnetically enhanced hydrogen production electrolyzer and effect of magnetic field configuration

Abstract

Hydrogen energy is a clean, zero‑carbon, flexible and abundant secondary energy. The large-scale deployment of industrial hydrogen production equipment is an effective way to improve renewable energy consumption, the efficiency of hydrogen production from water electrolysis is crucial for equipment deployment. In this paper, a novel industrial magnetically enhanced AWE electrolyzer is designed to improve the efficiency of hydrogen production. The structure and assembly method of the magnetic bipolar plate are introduced, the BOP component is designed and an industrial system-level test platform is built. The results show that the magnetic enhanced electrolyzer can effectively improve the hydrogen production efficiency, however, the effects of different magnetic field configurations (Magnetic field horizontal configuration, MFHC; Magnetic field vertical configuration, MFVC; No magnetic field configuration, NMFC) are significantly different. The magnetic field of MFVC are concentrated inside the bipolar plate and perpendicular to the direction of the electric field, and there is almost no magnetic flux leakage inside the cathode and anode cells. The magnetic field and the electric field of the MFHC configuration are not completely perpendicular, the magnetic field distribution is irregular, there are more magnetic flux leakage in the cells, and the magnetic field intensity is obviously greater than that of the MFVC configuration. Compared with NMFC, MFHC and MFVC significantly improved the hydrogen production efficiency, MFHC performance is better, the current density increased by 28.48% (@50 °C-100 L/h-2 V cell voltage-30%wt KOH), DC power consumption was reduced by 6.2% (CC100A-100 L/h-30%wt KOH). The design method and configuration scheme of magnetically enhanced electrolyzer provide a new idea for the industrial application of magnetic fields in AWE hydrogen production equipment.