Modeling of thermal performance of a commercial alkaline electrolyzer supplied with various electrical currents

Abstract

• Hydrogen produced by solar & other clean energy sources is an alternative to fossil fuels. • A commercial alkaline electrolyzer with different cell numbers and electrode areas are simulated. • Unsteady simulations are conducted and temperature are measured in terms of time. • Obtained results are compared with published results, and good agreement is observed. • Various characteristics of this alkaline electrolyzer are calculated and displayed. Hydrogen produced by solar and other clean energy sources is an essential alternative to fossil fuels. In this stuy, a commercial alkaline electrolyzer with different cell numbers and electrode areas are simulated for different pressure, temperature, thermal resistance, and electrical current. This alkaline electrolyzer is considered unsteady in simulations, and different parameters such as temperature are obtained in terms of time. The obtained results are compared with similar results in the literature, and good agreement is observed. Various characteristics of this alkaline electrolyzer as thermoneutral voltage, faraday efficiency and cell voltage are calculated and displayed. The outlet heat rate and generated heat rate are obtained as well. The pressure and the temperature in the simulations are between 1 and 100 bar and between 300 and 360 Kelvin respectively. The results show that the equilibrium temperature is reached 2–3 h after the time when the Alkaline electrolyzer starts to work.