Effect of operating conditions on performance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell with anode recirculation

Abstract

Anode recirculation operation is one method to both achieve self-humidification and increase hydrogen utilization for proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) automotive application. In this study, effect of operating conditions, including cathode inlet relative humidity, anode and cathode inlet pressure, and anode stoichiometry on performance of PEMFC with anode recirculation are analyzed by simulation work. Generally, the performance variation when the PEMFC starts anode recirculation can be divided into two stages. The performance increases first due to the self-humidification effect and then decreases due to the nitrogen crossover. The results show that performance enhancement caused by self-humidification becomes less significant with increasing cathode inlet humidity. Increasing anode inlet pressure can retard the performance decline caused by nitrogen crossover and increasing cathode inlet pressure will exacerbate it. Increasing anode stoichiometry can enhance the self-humidification by anode recirculation.