i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 7 8 0 7 e7 8 1 5

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Concept of a high pressure PEM electrolyser prototype

F. Marangio*, M. Pagani, M. Santarelli, M. Calı̀

Dipartimento di Energetica, Politecnico di Torino, Corso Duca Degli Abruzzi 24, 10129 Turin, Italy

article info abstract

Article history: This paper describes the research activity regarding High Pressure PEM Water Electrolysis
Received 25 March 2010 conducted at the Energetics Department at the Politecnico di Torino (Turin, Italy). In
Received in revised form particular, the first phase of the design and assembly of an in-house made prototype is
25 November 2010 discussed. This activity was started after a detailed theoretical and experimental work
Accepted 18 January 2011 carried on a prototype manufactured by Giner Electrochemical Systems.
Available online 22 March 2011 The experience learned suggested that the new activity should aim at a pressure of
about 30e45 bar and higher temperatures, because this pressure range is the one which
Keywords: minimises the electrolysis þ compression overall power request, while higher temperature
Hydrogen allows to work at lower voltages, thus increasing the electrolyser and the overall process
High pressure efficiency.
PEM On this basis, the design of the electrolyser has been performed, and the elements of
Prototype the electrolyser have been tested as described in the paper. The tests have been performed
at different pressure values, and at different operating temperatures: 40 " C and 55 " C;
a wide range of single cell voltage has been observed: at a current density of 1 A/cm2, it
ranges from 2.1 V (T ¼ 55 " C, p ¼ 10 bar) to 2.4 V (T ¼ 40 " C, p ¼ 70 bar).
Copyright ª 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights
reserved.

1. Introduction At the moment most commercial electrolysers use two

One of the possible complementary paths to reduce green-
house gases emissions could be to consider the integration of
renewable energy sources with a clean and efficient energy
vector (hydrogen), which could be used to overcome the gap
between RES (Renewable Energy Sources) and final uses.
Moreover, in case of energy use in the transportation sector,
hydrogen can be considered as a clean and efficient option for
RES storage on board, especially for high performance and
high range vehicles (for city vehicles the electric batteries are
already a sufficient option).
On the long-term, hydrogen could be considered as a prom-
ising solution for energy storage technology. In the mid-term, the
easiest way to obtain it is in this work considered to be elec-
trolysis, as photovoltaic arrays and windmills provide energy.
different technologies:
$ Alkaline electrolysis, in which the electrolyte is a liquid.
$ Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) electrolysis, in which the
electrolyte is a solid.
Between the two technologies, alkaline electrolysis is the
oldest and more mature one, and is still considered the first
option especially for medium- to large-size plants. PEM elec-
trolysis is however growing more and more interest especially
for small-size plants, because of its big advantage: it does not
use hazardous chemicals and therefore the plant manage-
ment is much easier. This makes the PEM technology suitable
for widespread use, in conjunction with renewable energy
sources. On the other hand, PEM electrolysis needs Platinum

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: francescomarangio@yahoo.it (F. Marangio).
0360-3199/$ e see front matter Copyright ª 2011, Hydrogen Energy Publications, LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.ijhydene.2011.01.091
7808 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 7 8 0 7 e7 8 1 5

as catalyst, which makes PEM electrolysers quite expensive, Power consumption vs. pressure
280
compared to alkaline ones. This is one of the reasons for the
275
big research effort currently in progress all over the world,
since the replacement of Platinum would mean a technolog- 270

ical breakthrough for PEM electrolysis. 265

Power [kW]
Another option currently under consideration is to develop 260
Solid Oxide Electrolysis Cells (SOEC), able to work at very high 255
temperature (800 O 900 " C). This would allow to exploit high
250
temperature heat obtained as by-product in many industrial
245
and power plants, thus reducing the need for electricity, Atmospheric electrolysis plus compression
240 High pressure electrolysis with water pump (balanced pressure)
a more valuable form of energy.
High pressure electrolysis without water pump (unbalanced pressure)
On the other hand, alkaline electrolysers benefit from 235
0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
a lower ionic resistance of the liquid electrolyte compared to Pressure [MPa]

that of current polymer electrolyte membranes; this advan-

tage is however often lost because of the higher purification
and compression requirements of KOH systems, especially at
small scale [1].
The possibility of producing hydrogen directly at high
pressure through electrolysis, pulling protons across the
electric field to a pressure-controlled cathode camera, is being
more and more explored. It has been observed that the energy
protons need to move across a pressure gradient is much
smaller than that supplied to a multi-stage compressor.
Nevertheless, it is important to analyse the limit value of the
operating pressure, as a function of the particular operating
conditions (current density, temperature) of the electrolyser.
This is a fundamental choice preliminary to the design of the
components of the electrolyser itself.
The object of this paper is the description of the design and
testing of the electrolyser prototype, designed on the basis of the
experience acquired through a previous work carried out on
a prototype manufactured by Giner Electrochemical Systems
(GES). The past experience suggested to aim at a pressure of
about 30e45 bar and higher temperatures, in order to minimise
the electrolysis þ compression overall power request.
2. High pressure electrolysis
The manufacturing of hydrogen via high pressure electrolysis
is a technology with high potential of further development. In
fact, it can bring huge cost reduction and plant simplification
by avoiding the need for a subsequent hydrogen compression.
Some authors report [2] that they think atmospheric elec-
trolysis to be preferable, though their analysis mainly focuses
on alkaline electrolysis rather than PEM electrolysis.
In fact, according to many authors [3,4], the power required
Fig. 1 e Comparison of the power requested to produce
1 mol/s (80.64 Nm3/h) of hydrogen by electrolysis as
a function of pressure.
needed for electrolysis at atmospheric pressure with subse-
quent compression is higher than that needed for high
pressure electrolysis, especially if no pressurization of the
anode side is performed (therefore no need for high pressure
feeding pump arises).
3. Choice of the working pressure
In order to compare different possibilities, and therefore
decide at which pressure to aim, a simulation of the power
requested in different cases was conducted, based on past
experimental results. It was assumed to maintain constant at
600 bar the hydrogen storage pressure, and calculating the
power absorbed by the electrolyser and the subsequent
mechanical compressor at different intermediate pressure.
This means that if the electrolyser delivery pressure changes,
the booster compression ratio has to vary accordingly in order
to keep unchanged the final hydrogen pressure. Fig. 2 shows
the results of this simulation for a 0.79 A/cm3 current density:
it is clear that the electrical power absorbed by the electrolyser
and the compressor has a minimum between 30 and 45 bar
circa.
Power needed by electrolyser and compressor
39,00
38,00
Electrical power [kW]

to produce hydrogen via atmospheric electrolysis with 37,00

subsequent compression is higher than that required by high
36,00
pressure electrolysis: thus the use of the latter could bring an
efficiency improvement in the hydrogen production process 35,00
via water electrolysis.
34,00
A deeper analysis is possible looking at Fig. 1, plotted
using data from [3], also cited by Laoun [5]; it shows the 33,00

power needed to produce a 1 mol/s (corresponding to 32,00

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70
80.64 Nm3/h) hydrogen flow with different technologies. It is
Electrolyser delivery pressure [bar]
possible to observe that the power required for electrolysis
increases with the hydrogen output pressure, according to Fig. 2 e Pressure needed by the electrolyser and
the Nernst equation and the evaluation of the polarisation compressor to deliver hydrogen at 600 bar, as a function of
losses (especially diffusion overvoltages), but the total power the electrolyser working pressure.
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 7 8 0 7 e7 8 1 5 7809

The optimal pressure value, which minimizes the overall

power request, depends on the current density at which the
electrolyser works. Fig. 3 shows the value of the optimal
pressure depending on the current density. It is clear how it
decreases with increasing current density: in fact, at low
current density the electrolyser overvoltages are lower, and it
7
is therefore convenient to work at higher pressure; on the
other hand, overvoltages are much higher at high current
density, therefore it is not convenient to increase the elec-
trolyser working pressure. According to this, it was decided to
aim at a pressure of about 30 bar.

4. Activities and results

In the framework of the Italian FISR (Research special

supplementary funding) project, a prototype of high pressure
PEM electrolyser has been tested (Fig. 4 shows the electrolyser
stack and describes the most important parts). Peculiarity of
the prototype is the unbalanced pressure across the
membrane: in fact the anodic chambers are at almost atmo-
Fig. 4 e Picture of the electrolyser stack (courtesy of Giner
spheric pressure, whereas the cathodic chambers are at
Electrochemical Systems). 1. Tie down holes (for
pressure up to 70 bar. This causes the membrane to be
installation). 2. Anode electrical connection. 3. Cells. 4.
mechanically stressed, but also eliminates the need for
Cathode electrical connection. 5. End plate. 6. Anode out:
bringing water at high pressure, thus allowing further energy
water and oxygen outlet flows. 7. Cathode out: high
saving and reducing the complexity of the Balance of Plant
pressure hydrogen outlet flow. 8. Tie bolts and belleville
(BOP).
washers to seal. 9. Anode in: water inlet flow.
Many tests have been conducted on the prototype to
understand its behaviour and study the influence of the
working conditions on the electrochemical performance.
More in detail, the polarisation curve of the stack (and there-
Fig. 6 compares some polarisation curves at different
fore of each cell) has been experimentally determined in
temperatures, in low and high pressure conditions. It is clear
different conditions by measuring the stack voltage while
that the temperature influence is quite high, especially at high
changing the stack current, temperature and hydrogen
pressure: therefore the convenience of high pressure elec-
delivery pressure. This has also allowed to develop a 0D
trolysis could be much enhanced by working at higher
polarisation model, able to fit quite well experimental results
temperature, since the efficiency drawback of working in
[6].
pressure could be almost covered by the advantage gained by
Fig. 5 shows two polarisation curves in the two extreme
increasing the temperature.
working conditions allowed by the stack: low temperature and
high pressure on one hand, high temperature and low pres-
sure on the other. It is clear from the figure that the first
Polarisation curves in different conditions
conditions are the worst one as regarding the efficiency, since
higher cell voltages mean higher electrical power required and
then lower efficiency. 2.4

2.2
40
Cell voltage [V]

35 2
Optimal pressure [bar]

30
1.8

25 Fitting curve A
1.6 Model results A
20 Test A: pcat=10 bar, Tan=55°C Experimental points A
Fitting curve B
1.4 Test B: pcat=70 bar, Tan=40°C
15 Model results B
Experimental points B

10 1.2
0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
0,4 0,6 0,8 1 1,2 1,4
2
Current density [A/cm ] Cell current density [A/cm ]

Fig. 3 e Optimal electrolyser working pressure, as Fig. 5 e Polarisation curves in different conditions,
a function of the current density. obtained by fitting experimental data.
7810 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 7 8 0 7 e7 8 1 5

Influence of temperature at low pressure

2.8

2.6

Cell voltage [V]

2.4

2.2

1.8

1.6

1.4 40°C, 2 MPa 40°C, 1 MPa 55°C, 1 MPa 55°C, 2 MPa

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
2
Cell current density [A/cm ]
Influence of temperature at high pressure
2.8

2.6
Cell voltage [V]

2.4

2.2

1.8

1.6

1.4 40°C, 6 MPa 40°C, 7 MPa 55°C, 7 MPa 55°C, 6 MPa

0 0.2 0.4 0.6 0.8 1 1.2 1.4
2
Cell current density [A/cm ]
Fig. 6 e Influence of temperature on the polarisation curve in low and high pressure conditions, as resulting from the
experimental results.

These drawbacks are the reason for the big research effort
5. New prototype first concept currently done. The most important alternatives to Nafion at
present studied are:
The objectives defined for the preliminary design phase of the
new prototype were: $ Nafion membranes with additives (Hydrophilic inorganic
materials such as SiO2 or Zr(HPO4)2, capable of preventing
$ To develop a prototype with completely known geometry the loss of water from the pores, thus maintaining an
and material properties, in order to be able to fully charac- equivalent level of conductivity at high and low tempera-
terise its performances. ture [7]. This solution maintains effective proton conduction
$ To re-use as much as possible already available material. at temperatures up to 100 O 130 " C, but the Nafion long-
$ To work at a pressure of about 30 bar. term stability at high temperature is a concern.
$ To increase the working temperature, with the final objec- $ Polyether ether ketone (PEEK) has satisfactory chemical and
tive of using steam instead of liquid water. electrochemical properties and low production costs.
However it cannot be used in water electrolysis applications
5.1. Membrane since the high degree of sulphonation required to achieve
a sufficient proton conductivity makes PEEK excessively
The first problem to be dealt with was the choice of the soluble in water, thus destroying its mechanical properties [9].
membrane. At present Nafion is the almost only practical $ Covalently cross-linked sulfonated polyether ether ketone/
choice, since it offers many advantages [7,8]: tungstophosphoric acid (CL-SPEEK/TPA) composite mem-
$ Good mechanical strength. branes have been studied by Young et al. [9]. Thermal and
$ High chemical stability. mechanical properties appear to be sufficient for water
$ High thermal stability. electrolysis applications. Table 1 shows some values of
$ High proton conductivity. proton conductivity for different membranes.

However, it also suffers from some drawbacks [7e9]: Polarisation tests were also conducted, comparing different
membranes; Table 2 shows the cell voltage of a test electrolysis
$ High cost. cell at 1 A/cm3 at 80 " C.
$ Low conductivity at low relative humidity. CL-SPEEK AND CL-SPEEK/TPA30 are therefore interesting
$ Low glass transition temperature. candidates for water electrolysis cell membranes.
$ Operating temperature below 90 O 100 " C.
$ Need for high loads of expensive high-quality catalysts, $ Lobato et al. [10] consider poly[2,2-(m-phenylene)-5,5-biben-
because of the low temperature the reaction takes place at. zimidazole], commonly named polybenzimidazole or PBI,
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 7 8 0 7 e7 8 1 5 7811

catalyst and Pt black as the cathode catalyst. This allows to

Table 1 e Proton conductivity of different membranes.
use commercially available MEAs and therefore to concen-
Membrane Conductivity [S/cm] trate our efforts in designing the electrolyser structure. It is
25 C"
80 " C however planned since the beginning that other catalysts, in
conjunction with membranes other than Nafion, will be tested
Nafion 117 92 e
in the future.
SPEEK 27 Swelling
CL-SPEEK 87 116
CL-SPEEK/TPA30 92 128
5.3. Electrolyser structure

The most important reason for developing a new prototype is

a serious alternative to Nafion thanks to its low cost and high
operational temperature (allowed by its very high thermal
stability). As regarding proton conductivity however, it is
sufficient only at temperatures above 150 " C [11]. In order to
achieve better conductivity at lower temperatures, the acid
doping of the membrane can be enhanced, but this worsens
the mechanical properties. On the other hand, the PBI
membranes proton conductivity is not strongly affected by
the hydration level, unlike that of Nafion membranes. It must
however be taken into consideration that PBI membranes are
soluble in liquid water: the presence of liquid water must
therefore be forbidden by the process control system under
any circumstances.
It is clear that all the currently available alternatives solve
just some of the Nafion issues, while often generating other
problems. This is why it was decided to use standard Nafion
for the prototype. Moreover, our test bench is at the moment
not able to work with steam but just with liquid water: the
medium-term objective is in any case to reach higher
temperatures.
5.2. Catalysts
The other important choice regarding the Membrane Elec-
trode Assembly of the new prototype is the catalyst. At
present the industrial standard is to use Pt for the cathode and
IreRu oxides for the anode. As widely known the anode
reaction is the most critical one: much research is in fact
under development in this sector. For example [12] have
conducted comparative tests: Fig. 7 shows some polarisation
curves in steady state with different anode catalysts: Ir shows
voltages higher than other catalysts at any current density,
except just Ru that has a higher voltage at high current
densities; the latter is instead the best performing catalyst at
high current density. The Ir and Ru oxides have quite similar
behaviour.
As regarding the new prototype, the first step was to follow
the industrial standard using IreRu oxides as the anode
to have an electrolyser with completely known geometry and
material properties; this would make possible to model and
understand its electrochemical behaviour in a much more
precise way than with the present prototype.
The first decision to be taken when designing the new stack
was the number of cells. The choice to have 6 O 7 cells was
a trade-off between two opposite needs: reduce the experi-
mental cost and produce enough hydrogen to be able to use
our present test bench (which was designed for a 12-cell stack
and performs badly at loads lower than 10 O 15%).
As regarding the pressure, the aim is to work at a pressure
between 30 and 45 bar, though at the beginning lower inter-
mediate targets could be necessary.
The main issue to deal with is the high mechanical stress
across the membrane caused by the high differential pressure.
This causes the need for mechanically sustaining the
membrane, but without introducing high pressure drops nor
increasing electrical resistance. The possible solution that has
been investigated is the use of a metal foam at the anode side:
this could sustain the membrane while ensuring high electrical
conductivity and low pressure drops: a detailed experimental
campaign, whose results are shown in the following subsection,
has been carried out to check the feasibility of this solution.
Each cell will be composed of the following elements (listed
proceeding from the anode side to the cathode side): bipolar
plate, metal foam, MEA (the electrodes are in fact coated
directly onto the Nafion membrane), current collector, bipolar
plate. As it is explained in the text above, commercial MEAs are

Table 2 e Cell voltage of a test electrolysis cell at 1 A/cm2

at 80 " C.
Membrane Pt load [mg/cm2] Voltage [V]

Nafion 117 1.21 1.85

SPEEK 1.01 1.90
Fig. 7 e Steady state polarization curves of PEM water
CL-SPEEK 1.31 1.81
CL-SPEEK/TPA 1.28 1.78
electrolyser cells using different anode electrocatalysts
Source [12].
7812 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 7 8 0 7 e7 8 1 5
Fig. 8 e Sketch of the possible structure of a cell of the new prototype.
at present going to be used. At the cathode side the current
collector is directly in contact with the membrane and guar-
antees electrical contact while allowing the produced hydrogen
to flow. Fig. 8 shows a sketch of how the stack could look like.
5.4. Testing metal foams
The main requirements for the foam are:
$ Mechanical compression strength.
$ Oxidation resistance in presence of water and oxygen.
$ High electrical conductivity.
$ Low pressure drops.
Two different metal foams, obtained from different
manufacturers, have been tested. Both were aluminium
foams, with a 40 PPI (Foam 1) and 45 PPI (Foam 2) porosity 1.
Three kinds of tests have been carried on:
$ Mechanical test to evaluate compression strength.
$ Water flow test to measure pressure drops.
$ Electrical conductivity measurement on different samples,
to have an idea both of the ohmic losses and of the oxidation
resistance.
5.4.1. Mechanical tests
Mechanical tests were conducted on a 40 PPI, 36 % 36.5 mm
sample. Its original thickness was 13 mm with a relative
density of 6 O 8%; after the test, its thickness was 1.4 mm and
its relative density about 60%. Fig. 9 shows the resulting
stressestrain curve. Since the densification starts to be
significant at stresses much higher than those caused by
hydrogen pressure, the foam will likely be able to withstand
during operation.
5.4.2. Hydraulic tests
Pressure drops across the metal foam were evaluated both in
orthogonal and transversal direction (Fig. 10), in order to have
1
PPI: Pores Per Inch.
an idea of the whole behaviour of the material. All the tests
were conducted letting water flow through the sample and
measuring the pressure drop. The experimental device shown
in Fig. 11 was necessary for the transversal flow tests, a bit
more difficult to set up than the orthogonal flow tests.
Figs. 12 and 13 show the tests results in orthogonal and
transversal direction respectively. It is clear that pressure
drops in the latter case are much higher than those in the first
one: this was of course expected since in this second case the
cross-section is much smaller and the thickness is much
higher. Two samples from two different manufacturers have
been tested: in both cases sample 2 performs better than
sample 1, though this could in part be due to the slightly
higher porosity. Especially in transversal direction, however,
the performance gap is very high.
The present prototype is usually operated with an average
water flow of 330 l/h; considering that it is made up of 12 cells,
70
Test 1
Test 2
60
50
Stress [MPa]
40
30
20
10
0
0,0 0,2 0,4 0,6 0,8 1,0
Strain
Fig. 9 e Stressestrain curve obtained during the metal
foam sample compression. The test was carried in two
phases: “test 1” and “test 2” refer to the first and second
phase respectively. After the first elastic deformation, there
is a large part in which the strain proceeds at constant
stress: here the cells of the foam undergo plastic
deformation and the empty volume slowly decrease. After
this phase, when the densification is almost complete, the
stress starts to increase again since the material contains
almost no more empty volumes.
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Orthogonal pressure drop

16

14

Pressure drop [mbar]

12

10

4
Sample 1
2 Sample 2
0
0 100 200 300 400 500 600 700 800 900 1000
Water flow [l/h]

Fig. 12 e Pressure drops in orthogonal direction as

a function of water flow. Sample 2 was compressed in two
different ways, hence the “2a” and “2b” indication.
Fig. 10 e Water flow directions in the two different kinds of
hydraulic tests.

conductivity must be preserved also in the oxidising envi-

each cell is crossed by an average 27.5 l/h water flow. Taking
this flow into consideration it is possible to estimate the
pressure drop the metal foams would cause in the new
prototype (with a sufficient degree of approximation). In
particular, dividing the values obtained from the curves
shown in Fig. 13 by the sample length, one obtains the unitary
pressure drop. Considering then a reasonable flow path of
0.16 m (analogue to that of the present prototype), the overall
pressure drop can be estimated: the results are shown in
Table 3. It is clear that huge differences can exist in pressure
drops caused by different kind of metal foams. Therefore an
accurate choice of the metal foam type and manufacturing
process is needed in order to keep the pressure drops at
a reasonable level.
ronment the foam operates in.
The tests conducted are based on the idea of measuring the
foam sample impedance and then extrapolating its DC resis-
tance in different conditions. Two samples have been
prepared: the foam “as is” and the foam treated to be pro-
tected against oxidation. After measuring their resistance,
they have undergone an oxidising attack, being kept for 18 h in
water at a constant temperature of 80 " C within an oxygen
flow. After this attack, the samples resistance has been
measured again and compared to the previous data, in order
to check the foam resistance against oxidation and the
effectiveness of the protective coating.
Results are shown in Fig. 14; the different curves are quite
close to each other, therefore the foams are probably enough

5.4.3. Conductivity and oxidation tests Transversal pressure drop

1400
Since metal foam has to guarantee electrical continuity, its
Sample 1
conductivity is a very important parameter. Moreover, this 1200
Sample 2a
1000
Sample 2b
800
∆P [mbar]

600

400

200

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40
Water flow [l/h]

Fig. 13 e Pressure drops in transversal direction as

a function of water flow.

Table 3 e Estimated pressure drops.

Sample Unitary p. drop [bar/m] Overall p. drop [bar]

1 73.3 11.7
2a 1.1 0.2
Fig. 11 e Experimental device for the transversal pressure 2b 32.2 5.3
drop measure.
7814 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 3 6 ( 2 0 1 1 ) 7 8 0 7 e7 8 1 5
Aluminium foams impedance
0
0 0,01 0,02 0,03
-0,05
-0,1
Zim [ ]
-0,15
Foam 1, not treated, before oxidation
Foam 1, treated, before oxidation
-0,2 Foam 1, not treated, after oxidation
Foam 1, treated, after oxidation
Extrapolated resistances:
-0,25 Foam 1, not treated, before oxidation
Foam 1, treated, before oxidation
Foam 1, not treated, after oxidation
Foam 1, treated, after oxidation
-0,3
Zre [ ]
Fig. 14 e Impedance curves for the different samples, obtained varying frequency between 100 Hz and 100 kHz. The
resistance value is calculated by extrapolating each curve to intersect the x-axis.
resistant to oxidation. It has to be observed however that the
oxidising attack was not so strong as if the sample was made
work as an anode; this should not be a severe issue, since also
in the prototype the foam has so far been designed to act just
as the membrane support and not as an electrode.
6. Conclusions
This work has dealt with the preliminary studies aiming at
building a new prototype of high pressure PEM water elec-
trolyser at the Energetics Department of the Politecnico di
Torino, Turin, Italy. Using the experience acquired in the field
of high pressure electrolysis with the experimental activity
carried out on the previous prototype, it was possible to sketch
the requirements of the new prototype and to think of
possible solutions.
First of all, the analysis of the break even value of the oper-
ating pressure of the electrolyser (followed by the mechanical
compressor stage) was done considering the minimization of
the total power consumption (electrolyser þ compressor). The
optimum limit depends on the operating conditions, especially
the current density; on the basis of the experimental analysis
and the developed models, we can conclude that, in case of PEM
electrolyser, at present the optimal pressure range is 30e45 bar.
Secondly, the design of a new prototype was undertaken.
The prototype was designed accordingly to the operating
pressure break even value. On this basis, a metal foam layer
was tested as the MEA support at the anode side. This solution
has been subjected to experimental evaluation of its suit-
ability. In particular, the mechanical, hydraulic and corrosion
performances of the metal foams were investigated and the
results were presented. The foam overcome with success the
three tests performed, and therefore we could conclude that
0,04 0,05 0,06 0,07 0,08
0,0194
0,0204
0,0195
0,0188
the tested metal foam seems to be suitable for this kind of
application.
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