Using of an Electrochemical Compressor for Hydrogen Recirculation in Fuel Cell Vehicles

The automotive industry sees hydrogen-powered fuel cell(FC) drives as a promising option with a high range and shortrefueling time. Current research aims to increase the profitabil-ity of the fuel cell system by reducing hydrogen consumption.This study suggests the use of an electrochemical hydrogencompressor (EHC) for hydrogen recirculation. Compared tomechanical compressors, the EHC is very efficient due to thealmost isothermal conditions and due to its modular structure,can only take up a minimal amount of space in vehicles. Inaddition, gas separation and purification of the hydrogentakes place in an EHC, which is a significant advantage overthe standard recirculation with a blower or a jet pump. Thehigh purity of the hydrogen at the cathode outlet of the EHC,also increased partial pressure of the hydrogen at the fuel cellinlet and its efficiency. The study carried out shows that repla-cing the blower with the EHC reduces the hydrogen loss bypurging by up to ~95% and the efficiency of the FC systemcould be further improved. Thus, the EHC has a great poten-tial for recycling hydrogen in FC systems in the automotiveindustry and is a great alternative to the current blower.