Study on a Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell System Fuelled by a Mixture of Bio-Ethanol and Methane

Bio-ethanol is considered a good candidate for hydrogen production because of its renewability, low toxicity and high hydrogen content. In this work, the reforming process of a mixture of bio-ethanol and methane integrated with a proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is theoretically investigated. The simulation studies are performed using Aspen Plus simulator. The effect of operating parameters, such as temperature and feed ratio, on the concentrations of hydrogen and CO in the reformate gas is studied. The hydrogen fraction increases with increasing reformer temperatures until reaching its optimal point. An increase in the bio-ethanol to methane ratio ratio has a positive effect on the hydrogen production when the reformer is operated at the ratios lower than 1.25. The optimal conditions for reformer operation are the temperature of 900 degrees C and the bio-ethanol to methane ratio of 1. In addition, the reformer and PEMFC integrated system is studied and the result shows that the system efficiency of 35.2 % can be achieved.