Toluene adsorption performance study of cathode air filter for high-power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles

Abstract

The durability of polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) is impacted by airborne contaminants, and it is necessary to install a cathode air filter to remove harmful pollutants. To learn more about the effect of key process variables (particle size and bulk density) on the adsorption performance of cathode air filters, the breakthrough behaviour of toluene was evaluated using activated carbon (AC) beds. The results showed that with a decrease in particle size and increase in bulk density, the initial breakthrough ratio was reduced, while the pressure drop increased. The breakthrough time increased from 18 min to 45 min with increasing particle size. In addition, kinetic modelling indicated a dominant role of pore diffusion in the whole adsorption process with an enhanced toluene uptake ratio on carbon with a smaller particle size and higher bulk density. A new evaluation index based on energy consumption was proposed, showing that a decrease in particle size will increase the energy consumption, while a change in carbon density has no obvious effect on the energy consumption. Thus, increasing the bulk density of air filters, such as by utilizing a greater number of carbon cloth filters in series, deserves our attention.