Sodium borohydride based hybrid power system

Abstract

Sodium borohydride's properties make it a good source of hydrogen for use with a fuel cell for an on-demand system that is easily controllable and has no idle costs. Previous work, as described in the literature, indicated that ruthenium (Ru) is an efficient catalyst for generating hydrogen from sodium borohydride. Tests were conducted to evaluate catalyst loading with the results of these tests indicating that the hydrolysis rate is affected by the loading of the catalyst. It was also apparent that the substrate surface is not completely occupied by Ru at the lower loadings, and that increased loadings are needed to optimize the reaction rate. A differential rate test with a fixed bed reactor was also conducted. It was observed that temperature has a significant effect on the rate of reaction. Feed rate also affected the rate of reaction with lower feed rates (longer residence time in the reactor) having higher reaction rates. A bench-top hybrid system was also developed and tested. This test bed demonstrated how a system based on a chemically generated hydrogen-fed proton exchange membrane fuel cell could be integrated with batteries to provide a hybrid power system that can meet the demands of a highly varying electrical load up to four times the rated output of the fuel cell.