Performance evolution and modeling of PEM fuel cell systems

In the context of climate change mitigation, different alternatives to reduce the atmospheric CO2 emissions are; increasing the efficiency, switching to renewable resource and reduce emissions from fossil resources by CO2 capture and storage (CCS) . Hydrogen is considered as potential alternative to cover the energy needs by using it as a fuel in internal combustion engines or fuel cells, or as chemical source. In proton exchange membrane (PEM) fuel cells, also known as polymer exchange membrane fuel cells, pure hydrogen fuelis combined with the oxygen from the atmosphere to produce water, heat and electricity. Many research has been done in recent years on fuel cell systems leading to higher efficiencies. The performance is influenced by the membrane properties, the catalysts, the number of cells and the operating conditions. For studying the performance of fuel cell systems process modeling is a well-known approach. Here the evolution of fuel cell efficiency, especially of PEMFC is studied within the aim of updating previously developed PEMFC process models to integrate them with different hydrogen production processes using fossil and renewable resources in order to assess the competitiveness on the energy market.