Safe-efficient operation strategies for integrated system of photovoltaic and proton exchange membrane electrolysis cells

Abstract

Proton exchange membrane electrolysis cells (PEMEC) can be utilized to produce hydrogen using renewable energy. In this paper, photovoltaic (PV) integrated with PEMEC is developed for hydrogen production. Based on the operation characteristics of PV and PEMEC, two operation strategies (Strategy 1 and Strategy 2) are proposed to regulate membrane temperature lower than 353.15 K under different solar irradiations. For Strategy 1, the water flow rate is firstly increased and then the inlet water temperature is reduced in the morning with increasing irradiation; and only increasing the inlet water temperature in the afternoon. While for Strategy 2, only reducing the inlet water temperature is adopted in the morning, and increasing the inlet water temperature in the afternoon. Results show that Strategy 1 outperforms Strategy 2 in terms of higher energy efficiency of 5.38% and exergy efficiency of 5.46%. However, the specific energy consumption is higher with Strategy 1 owing to higher pump power consumption, which is 6.15 kWh/Nm3.