A novel PEMFC-CHP system for methanol reforming as fuel purified by hydrogen permeation alloy membrane

Abstract

Based on Aspen Plus, a novel fuel electrochemical power generation system is proposed which integrates the chemical fuel conversion process and the proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) unit. The methanol steam reforming reaction at 300 °C converts the residual heat of the system into the chemical energy of pure hydrogen fuel (H 2 ), which is used to drive PEMFC to generate electricity. At the same time, the hydrogen permeation alloy membrane was used to separate and purify the synthetic gas to realize the high efficient cascade utilization of the residual heat of the fuel, which further enhanced the power generation efficiency and efficient energy use of the system. The thermal efficiency of the system was 81.71% under the design condition, the power generation efficiency of PEMFC unit and system were 44.17% and 31.53% respectively. The research provides a new way for efficient utilization of energy and clean fuel. In this paper, the performance of PEMFC integrated system was analyzed, and the complementary utilization of chemical energy affinity was revealed.