TY - JOUR
T1 - Gas bubble removal from a zero-gap alkaline electrolyser with a pressure swing and why foam electrodes might not be suitable at high current densities
AU - Bleeker, Jorrit
AU - van Kasteren, Celine
AU - van Ommen, J. Ruud
AU - Vermaas, David A.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - To make green hydrogen more economically attractive, the energy losses in alkaline electrolysis need to be minimized while operating at high current densities (1 A cm−2). At these current densities the ohmic resistance and gas bubbles effects contribute largely to the energy losses. To mitigate the gas bubbles losses, we demonstrate, for the first time, a pressure swing to remove gas bubbles in a zero-gap alkaline water electrolyzer. The pressure swing leverages the ideal gas law to increase the volume of gas in the system periodically, for a short duration (<2 s). This temporal volume increase effectively removes bubbles from the electrolyzer. We show that pressure swing can be used to measure the effect of bubbles on the ohmic resistance (RBubbles). Our results reveal that foam electrodes have a significantly larger RBubbles than perforated plate electrodes (1.8 Ω cm2 vs 0.3 Ω cm2). The time-averaged cell voltage reduces by 170 mV when applying pressure swings to an electrolyzer operating at 200 mA cm−2 in 1 M KOH with foam electrodes. The bubble resistance further depends on the electrolyte conductivity (inversely proportional) and is only moderately affected by operating pressure (25 % lower when increasing pressure amplitude from 1–2 to 1–5 bar). By implementing these findings in a model, we estimate that the pressure swing could reduce the cell voltage by ∼0.1 V for an electrolyzer operating at industrial conditions (6 M KOH, 80 °C, 1 A cm−2) for foam electrodes. For perforated plate electrodes, however, the reduced cell voltage is lower and does not outweigh the additional compression energy.
AB - To make green hydrogen more economically attractive, the energy losses in alkaline electrolysis need to be minimized while operating at high current densities (1 A cm−2). At these current densities the ohmic resistance and gas bubbles effects contribute largely to the energy losses. To mitigate the gas bubbles losses, we demonstrate, for the first time, a pressure swing to remove gas bubbles in a zero-gap alkaline water electrolyzer. The pressure swing leverages the ideal gas law to increase the volume of gas in the system periodically, for a short duration (<2 s). This temporal volume increase effectively removes bubbles from the electrolyzer. We show that pressure swing can be used to measure the effect of bubbles on the ohmic resistance (RBubbles). Our results reveal that foam electrodes have a significantly larger RBubbles than perforated plate electrodes (1.8 Ω cm2 vs 0.3 Ω cm2). The time-averaged cell voltage reduces by 170 mV when applying pressure swings to an electrolyzer operating at 200 mA cm−2 in 1 M KOH with foam electrodes. The bubble resistance further depends on the electrolyte conductivity (inversely proportional) and is only moderately affected by operating pressure (25 % lower when increasing pressure amplitude from 1–2 to 1–5 bar). By implementing these findings in a model, we estimate that the pressure swing could reduce the cell voltage by ∼0.1 V for an electrolyzer operating at industrial conditions (6 M KOH, 80 °C, 1 A cm−2) for foam electrodes. For perforated plate electrodes, however, the reduced cell voltage is lower and does not outweigh the additional compression energy.
KW - Alkaline water electrolysis
KW - Gas bubbles
KW - Hydrogen
KW - Pressurized
KW - Zero-gap
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85182597088&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2024.01.147
DO - 10.1016/j.ijhydene.2024.01.147
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85182597088
SN - 0360-3199
VL - 57
SP - 1398
EP - 1407
JO - International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
JF - International Journal of Hydrogen Energy
ER -