Three-Dimensional Modeling of Anion Exchange Membrane Electrolysis: A Two-Phase Flow Approach

Erwan Tardy, Yann Bultel (), Florence Druart, Antoine Bonnefont, Melaine Guillou and Benoit Latour
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Erwan Tardy: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, Grenoble INP, LEPMI, F-38000 Grenoble, France
Yann Bultel: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, Grenoble INP, LEPMI, F-38000 Grenoble, France
Florence Druart: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, Grenoble INP, LEPMI, F-38000 Grenoble, France
Antoine Bonnefont: Univ. Grenoble Alpes, Univ. Savoie Mont Blanc, CNRS, Grenoble INP, LEPMI, F-38000 Grenoble, France
Melaine Guillou: Manufacture Française des Pneumatiques Michelin, 23, Place des Carmes, F-63040 Clermont-Ferrand, France
Benoit Latour: Manufacture Française des Pneumatiques Michelin, 23, Place des Carmes, F-63040 Clermont-Ferrand, France

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 13, 1-16

Abstract: Anion exchange membrane water electrolyzers (AEMWEs) are attracting growing interest as a green hydrogen production technology. Unlike proton exchange membrane (PEM) systems, AEMWEs operate in an alkaline environment, allowing one to use less expensive, non-noble materials as catalysts for the reactions and non-fluorinated anion exchange polymer membranes. However, the performance and stability of AEMWEs strongly depend on the alkaline electrolyte concentration. In this work, a three-dimensional multi-physics model considering two-phase flow effects is applied to understand the impact of KOH electrolyte concentration and its flow rate on AEMWE performance, as well as on the current and gas volume fraction distributions. The numerical results were compared to experimental data published in the literature. For current densities above 1 A/cm 2 , a strongly non-uniform H 2 and O 2 gas volume distribution could be evidenced by the 3D simulations. Increasing the KOH electrolyte flow rate from 10 to 100 mL/min noticeably improves cell performance for current densities above 1 A/cm 2 . These results show the importance of accounting for the three-dimensional geometry of an AEMWE and two-phase flow effects to accurately describe its operation and performance.

Keywords: anion exchange membrane water electrolysis; three-dimensional model; two-phase flow; KOH concentration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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