Experimental study of the electrochemical hydrogen pump based on proton exchange membrane for the application in fusion fuel cycle

Abstract

An electrochemical hydrogen pump (EHP) can be used in the fuel cycle of fusion devices for purifying (separating) and compressing fuel (a mixture of hydrogen isotopes). One of the distinguishing features of the fuel cycle of fusion devices is a relatively narrow range of operating pressures of the fuel mixture from high vacuum (∼1–10 Pa) to several atmospheres (2–3·105 Pa), and in most of the fuel cycle systems, especially in transmission systems (like gas lines), the pressure shall not exceed atmospheric. In this study, the possibility of using EHP with a proton exchange membrane (PEM) in the fuel cycle of fusion devices in the pressure range of 0.01 – 0.30 MPa and temperatures of 20 – 70 °C was considered, and i-V curves were obtained. A regression analysis of the i-V curves was carried out. The temperature dependence of limiting current and resistance of EHP cell was obtained as follows: lnilim=−1140±1001T+(3.0±0.3) and lnρ=1780±2801T+(6.5±1.1). It is shown that there is no dependence of these parameters on pressure. The EHP cell productive capacity was determined in the studied ranges of pressure and temperature as follows: lni2F=−0.0119×T−4.2×Ecell0.05+Ecell+20.4. The results obtained allow one to predict the performance of the EHP device under conditions of subatmospheric hydrogen pressure at the anode and to select the most effective operating parameters of the EHP.