Modeling of 2-MW co-generative PEM fuel cell for hydrogen recovering from Chlorine industry

The chlorine industrial production process is energy-intensive in terms of heat and electricity and generates a relevant amount of hydrogen as byproduct; consequently, it is particularly interesting for cogeneration and energy integration by means of fuel cells. The DEMCOPEM-2MW European Project is meant to design and build a demonstrative 2MW PEM fuel cell power plant coupled with a chlor-alkali process in China, aiming at covering about 20% of the industrial process consumptions based on the use of waste hydrogen. Scale-up of stationary fuel cell plants is an ongoing process with many open challenges. Therefore, in the framework of the project, a model is developed in order to evaluate the plant expected performances and optimize operational strategies on plant lifetime. The simulation is built in Aspen PLUS® environment, using available thermodynamics libraries and standard process components and developing customized components for electrochemical and electronic devices. The general modeling approach was described in a previous work, while here the model is refined and applied to the 2 MW plant in view of operational optimization and lifetime performances evaluation. Calibration and validation of the model are performed against data from (i) a 70 kW PEM stack installation operating in AkzoNobel’s plant in Delfzijl, where Nedstack PEM fuel cell stacks of the same class used in the projected plant are being tested; and from (ii) a 1 MW PEM plant operated in Lillo (Belgium), developed by Nedstack and MTSA with a layout similar to the design of DEMCOPEM-2MW plant.