Thesis (DTech (Chemical Engineering))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2017. / Fuel cells are among power generation technologies that have been proven to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions. They have the potential of being one of the most widely used
technologies of the 21st century, replacing conventional technologies such as gas turbines
in stationary power supplies, internal combustion engines in transport applications and
the lithium-ion battery in portable power applications. This research project concentrates
on the performance analysis of a micro-cogeneration system based on a high temperatureproton
exchange membrane (HT-PEM) fuel cell through modelling and parametric analysis.
A model of a 1kWe micro-cogeneration system that consists of a HT-PEM fuel cell, a
methane steam reformer (MSR) reactor, a water-gas-shift (WGS) reactor, heat exchangers
and an inverter was developed. The model is coded/implemented in gPROMS Model
Builder, an equation oriented modelling platform. The models predictions for the HTPEM
fuel cell, MSR and WGS, and the whole system were validated against experimental
and numerical results from literature. The validation showed that the HT-PEM fuel cell
model was able to predict the performance of a 1kWe fuel cell stack with an error of less
than 6.4%.
The system model is rstly used in a thermodynamic analysis of the fuel processor for a
methane steam reforming process and investigated in terms of carbon monoxide produced.
The combustor fuel and equivalence ratios were shown to be critical decision variables to
be considered in order to keep the carbon monoxide from the fuel processor at acceptable
levels for the fuel cell stack.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:netd.ac.za/oai:union.ndltd.org:cput/oai:localhost:20.500.11838/2574 |
| Date | January 2017 |
| Creators | Nomnqa, Myalelo Vuyisa |
| Contributors | Ikhu-Omoregbe, Daniel, Rabiu, Ademola |
| Publisher | Cape Peninsula University of Technology |
| Source Sets | South African National ETD Portal |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Rights | http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/za/ |
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