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. 2024 Jun 30;26(7):566.
doi: 10.3390/e26070566.

Energy, Exergetic, and Thermoeconomic Analyses of Hydrogen-Fueled 1-kW Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

Yungpil Yoo  1   2 , Sang-Yup Lee  1   3 , Seok-Ho Seo  2 , Si-Doek Oh  2 , Ho-Young Kwak  2   4
Affiliations

Energy, Exergetic, and Thermoeconomic Analyses of Hydrogen-Fueled 1-kW Proton-Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell

Yungpil Yoo et al. Entropy (Basel). .

Abstract

Exergy analysis evaluates the efficiency of system components by quantifying the rate of entropy generation. In general, the exergy destruction rate or irreversibility rate was directly obtained through the exergy balance equation. However, this method cannot determine the origin of the component's entropy generation rate, which is a very important factor in system design and improvement. In this study, a thorough energy, exergy, and thermoeconomic analysis of a proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) was performed, providing the heat transfer rate, entropy generation rate, and cost loss rate of each component. The irreversibility rate of each component was obtained by the Gouy-Stodola theorem. Detailed and extensive exergy and thermoeconomic analyses of the PEMFC system determined that water cooling units experience the greatest heat transfer among the components in the studied PEMFC system, resulting in the greatest irreversibility and, thus, the greatest monetary flow loss.

Keywords: Gouy–Stodolar theorem; entropy generation rate; lost cost flow rate; proton-exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC).

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Conflict of interest statement

Author Seok-Ho Seo was employed by the company Blue Economy Strategy Institute Co., Ltd. The remaining authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic of hydrogen-fueled 1-kW PEMFC system.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The unit cost of electricity depending on the investment cost of the system with a fixed hydrogen cost ($25/GJ: straight line) and the unit cost of electricity depending on the hydrogen cost with a fixed investment cost ($23,786: dotted line).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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