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Modelling CO poisoning and O 2 bleeding in a PEM fuel cell anode
Author(s) -
Baschuk J.J.,
Li Xianguo
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
international journal of energy research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.808
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1099-114X
pISSN - 0363-907X
DOI - 10.1002/er.934
Subject(s) - proton exchange membrane fuel cell , co poisoning , electrolyte , carbon monoxide , anode , oxygen , chemistry , chemical engineering , catalytic reforming , oxygen transport , hydrogen , waste management , direct ethanol fuel cell , fuel cells , catalysis , engineering , electrode , organic chemistry
Fuel gas containing carbon monoxide severely degrades the performance of a polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. However, CO poisoning can be mitigated by introducing oxygen into the fuel (oxygen bleeding). A mathematical PEM fuel cell model is developed that simulates both CO poisoning and oxygen bleeding, and obtains excellent agreement with published, experimental data. Modelling efforts indicate that CO adsorption and desorption follow a Temkin model. Increasing operating pressure or temperature mitigates CO poisoning, while use of reformate fuel increases the severity of the poisoning effect. Although oxygen bleeding mitigates CO poisoning, an unrecoverable performance loss exists at high current densities due to competition for reaction sites between hydrogen adsorption and the heterogeneous catalysis of CO. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.