Design, construction, and performance of a próton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEM-WE)

Abstract

This work presents the design and construction of a proton exchange membrane water electrolyzer (PEM-WE) for H2 production. The evaluation of the flow regimen in the flow channels was performed by computational fluid dynamic anlysis (CFD). The cell components were machined by computer numerical control (CNC) milling. The electrode membrane assembly (MEA) manufacturing consisted of a Nafion® 117 membrane and electrodes with an active area of 100 cm2. Electrocatalysts were deposited using the electrospray technique with a metal loading of 1 mg of Pt cm−2 in the cathode zone and 2 mg IrO∙cm−2 in the anode region. The different components were assembled to the six cell stack PEM-WE, which was held with a bolt torque of 1.7 N∙m. The PEM-WE stack was characterized in a potential range from to 11.8–15 V at a temperature interval ranging from 30 °C to 70 °C. Deionized water was supplied at 300 mL∙min−1. The best performance was registered when operating at 15 V and 70 °C, for an efficiency of 59.65%. The hydrogen production amount was 42 NL∙ h−1, and theamount of power consumed was 132 W∙h.