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240th ECS Meeting

Blue World Technologies

October 10-14, 2021

Durability Studies on PBI based High Temperature PEM

Kobra Azizi

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• Danish Power Systems (1994 ) and Blue World (2018) were merged in January 2021

• We produce and develop HTPEM technology which utilizes renewable fuels

• We develop materials for flow batteries and electrolysis

• We have a strong network with international companies and universities

• We are member of IEA, Annex 31, EMIRI (incl. Steering Comm.), Battery 2030+, Hydrogen Denmark, Fuel

Cell Development Information Center (Japan) and Hydrogen Europe (Brussels)

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Breakdown of Blue World Technologies’ team

Years of experience within Blue World Technologies’ organisation

Fuel cell/electrical/chemical:

400+ yearsProduction:250+ years

Management:250+ years

Commercial:170+ years

Administration:200+ years

Highly experienced team

10+ PhDs +10 nationalities60+ people 15+ masters

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Activities - Fuel Cell Technology

➢ Materials• Development of materials and processes for membrane, electrode, bipolar plates and …..• Chemical and electrochemical testing of materials

➢ Mechanical• Design of mechanical components, CAD design and drawings • Thermodynamic, fluid mechanical, heat transfer calculations on components and systems• Test and analysis of test results –thermal/fluid mechanical components

➢ Platform and test• Long-term durability test of reformers, stacks and other components• Development of systems/platforms and controls of components and systems

➢ Power Gen• Systems for stationary power generation

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Activities – batteries and electrolyzers

➢ Batteries• Membranes for redox flow batteries (PBI and composites)• Test of flow batteries – primarily VRFB

➢ Alkaline electrolysis (AEL)• Polymers, membranes and electrodes for AEL and high temperature AEL

➢ Solid acid electrolysis• Inorganic membranes

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Superior high temperature PEM technology

• No external heat needed as waste heat drives fuel evaporation process = higher conversion efficiency

• No gas clean-up needed = simple and cost effective system

• Water regeneration = increased energy storage

Reformer

HT PEM fuel cell

100 % methanol

Gas clean-up

Heat reuse and water regeneration

External heat Evaporator

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Research and development Material and component Production and assembly System integration Application and usage

Material development

Testing and optimisation

Membrane and electrode production and MEA assembly

Bipolar plate production

Methanol reformer

Fuel cell stack assembly

Stationary/APU system integration

Vehicle integration

Stationary system for e.g. telecom application

Methanol fuel cell vehicle

Blue World’s scope

Blue World’s scope OEM’s scope

Focus on R&D to enhancecompetitiveness further

strengthened by theacquisition of DPS

Own production of keycomponents to ensure

control of the value chainand direct link to R&D

Own assembly of fuel cell units. Limited production is ongoing and

serial production is expected in mid-2022

Mobility and maritime OEM partners are responsible for integration of the

fuel cell stack and reformer

BW supplies end-use applications for the stationary market while

mobility and maritime OEMs do the application assembly and sales

Stationary / APU markets

Mobility / maritime markets

Integrated value chain to secure flexibility and cost-control

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Polarization curve studies

Polarization curves of PBI cells during the first 1,200 h. The active surface area of the electrodes was 21 cm2. The fuel was synthetic reformate containing 69.3% H2, 22.3% CO2, 6.9% H2O and 1.4% CO. The stoichiometries of hydrogen and air were λH2/λair =1.3/2.5. The cell was operated under ambient pressure at 160 oC.

❖ No significant change in the MEA resistanceoccurred within the timeframe of themeasurement based on EIS measurement

❖ No significant particle aggregation of catalystsand an effective acid retention in the m-PBIchain network of the membrane electrolyteaccording to the stable performance during1,250 h

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MEA performance optimization: durability tests using reformate

Dapozol® 402:

• improved durability • better performance• better process robustness,• high reformate slip resilience

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Cell voltage versus time during the long-term test. The active surface area of the electrodes was 21 cm2. The fuel was synthetic reformate containing 69.3% H2, 22.3% CO2, 6.9% H2O and 1.4% CO. The stoichiometries of hydrogen and air were λH2/λair =1.3/2.5. The cell was operated at 0.4 A/cm2 and 160 oC.

Long-term durability test

A decay rate of only 9.3 μV /h at 0.4 A/cm2 over extended period of time (10,000 h)

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a) Polarization and power density curves at 170 oC and pressure of 1.5 barabs. b) Cell voltage and current density versus time curves of the long-term test at 170 oC and pressure of 1.5 barabs.

Durability test and polarization curve at 0.8A/cm2 and higher pressure

✓ The degradation rate of 12.6 µV/h wasmeasured compared to the voltage at thebeginning of the pressurized test at 800mA/cm2

The cell performance was slowly improved, reaching the peak voltage of 0.584 V @ 0.8 A/cm2 after a total operation time of 434 h.

✓ At the point of 1,533 h, a short fuel starvation occurred

The MEA showed no clearsensitivity to increase in MeOHslip up to 10,000 ppm.

A possible recovery of ⁓10 mV bystop of the slip is seen at 2,200 h.

MeOH slip testing of two Dapozol® 402 MEAs, using an increasing concentration scheme over 3,000 h.

Operation point: reformate vs air at 160 °C, λair = 2.5, λH2 = 1.3, I = 0.4 A/cm2, 21 cm2 active area.

MeOH slip test

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Conclusion:

❖ Long-term durability test of HT-PEMFCs conducted at 160 oC, 0.4 A/cm2:A decay rate of 9.3 μV/h over 12,000 with reformate fuel and air feed; is comparable with the 6-10 μV/hat 0.2 A/cm2 , hydrogen and air supplied to the anode and cathode in the literatures

❖ The durability test of HT-PEMFCs performed at 1.5 barabs, 170 oC, 0.8 A/cm2:A steady performance degradation in a rate of 12.6 µV/h measured compared to the voltage at thebeginning of pressurized test

❖ The effect of the operating condition is shown to be significant. Increasing the operatingtemperature and operating pressure increases the MEA degradation.

❖ MeOH slips > 10,000 ppm accelerates the degradation of the MEA.

A good understanding of the degradation mechanisms is one of the keys to a better durability

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Acknowledgements

✓ EUDP, the Danish Ministry of Energy

✓ Innovation Fund Denmark

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Thank you for your attention