Journal of Cleaner Production 234 (2019) 1082e1093

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Journal of Cleaner Production

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/jclepro

Energy, exergy, advanced exergy and economic analyses of hybrid

polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell and photovoltaic cells
to produce hydrogen and electricity
M. Shaygan a, M.A. Ehyaei a, *, A. Ahmadi b, M. El Haj Assad c, Jose
! Luz Silveira d
a
Department of Mechanical Engineering, Pardis Branch, Islamic Azad University, Pardis New City, Iran
b
School of New Technologies, Iran University of Science & Technology, Iran
c
Sustainable & Renewable Energy Engineering Department, University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates
d ~
Sao Paulo State University, UNESP, FEG, Energy Department, United Arab Emirates

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: Hydrogen, as a clean fuel, can provide all the requirements and characteristics of a clean and reliable
Received 27 May 2019 energy carrier in the long term as a suitable alternative to fossil fuels. In this paper, a power generation
Received in revised form system using hydrogen storage has been investigated. For this purpose, 64 photovoltaic modules with
24 June 2019
area of 2.16 m 2 for each module and 329 PW and 5.5 kW PEM fuel cell and electrolyzer were used in this
Accepted 26 June 2019
Available online 28 June 2019
hybrid system. The day product of hydrogen day has been calculated as 158 kg. The system has been
subjected to exergy analysis and, hence the efficiency and destruction of exergy components have been
Handling Editor: Sandro Nizetic calculated. The annual average electrical production by photovoltaic system is 4850 W. The average
annual exergy efficiency of each component including compressor, electrolyzer, fuel cell, and photo-
Keywords: voltaic cell has been calculated as 75.9%, 11.2%, 32.8%, and 10.8%, respectively. The energy and exergy
Photovoltaic cells efficiencies of the system have been calculated for different days and its average annual values have been
Exergy obtained 20.4% and 21.8%, respectively. Cost of electricity is 0.127 $/kWh, which is compatible with solar
Economic thermal and wind turbine offshore electricity costs. Finally, according to the advanced exergy analysis in
Advances
all equipment’s except the photovoltaic cell, the highest exergy destruction has been related to exoge-
Fuel cell
nous unavoidable.
Electrolysis
© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

1. Introduction Integration of photovoltaic (PV) system with fuel cells has been
recently investigated for the purpose of hydrogen production
Hydrogen as a clean fuel can be a suitable alternative to fossil (Babayan et al., 2019). A new PV system integrated with polymer
fuels due to the fact that it has the characteristics of a clean and safe electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell using phase change material
energy carrier in the long run, in addition to its highest energy per (PCM) as a storage medium has been presented (Babayan et al.,
unit (Mitlitsky et al., 1998). The fuel cell and electrolysis unit’s 2019) to produce hydrogen in a filling station of hydrogen. The
combination has become a new strategy for suppling the required study showed that the use of PCM resulted in an improvement of
hydrogen to the fuel cell for power generating unit. This combined energy and exergy efficiencies of the proposed system.
system is the main source of power and applications in several Ashari et al. (2012) investigated a system consisting of PEM fuel
units (Rekioua et al., 2014). cell, reformer, burner, and heat exchanger to provide the required
Hydrogen production for the use in fuel cells has been widely electricity, heat and domestic hot water for a residential building.
investigated. Bilgen (2004) examined various methods to produce The study revealed that an 8.5 kW fuel cell could meet all the
hydrogen from renewable energy resource. A similar study was building loads requirements. Residential electricity cost was
done be Levene et al. (2007) and Smaoui et al. (2015). calculated to be 0.39 $/kWh which is considered to be a high
electricity cost. This type of fuel cell was also investigated by Saidi
et al. (Saidi et al., 2005a; Saidi et al., 2005b).
Hwang et al. (2009) examined the dynamic model of a hybrid
* Corresponding author. fuel cell and photovoltaic cell system for residential applications.
E-mail address: [email protected] (M.A. Ehyaei).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.06.298
0959-6526/© 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
 M. Shaygan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 234 (2019) 1082e1093 1083

The results showed that supplying electricity to a typical family was of the capital city of Iran (Tehran). Also, advanced exergy analysis of
capable. Rekioua et al. (2014) examined a system of photovoltaic this system has not reported in the literature.
cells, PEM fuel cells, electrolyzer, and power control unit (PCU) as In this paper, electrolysis process is used to convert water into
an independent system of the electrical grid. They used the PCU hydrogen and oxygen, and the produced hydrogen is stored in a
system for peak shaving and power consumption management. storage tank at high pressure due to the use of compressor. The
The combination of a photovoltaic cell system, lithium battery stored hydrogen is converted into electricity and steam by PEM fuel
and a PEM fuel cell was examined by Ezzat and Dincer (2016). They cell. Electricity needed by electrolysis system and compressor is
concluded that the system energy and exergy efficiencies for the supplied by photovoltaic cells. The main advantage of this proposed
combined fuel cell and battery were 39.5% and 56.3%, respectively system is that it has no greenhouse gas emission during power
and for the combined model of the fuel cell, battery and photo- generation process, and it also can be used locally for generating
voltaic cell were 39.9% and 56.6%, respectively. Khemariya et al. electricity in all kinds of residential and commercial buildings. The
(2017) developed a model for the optimal photovoltaic cell and a objective of this work is to investigate energy, exergy, economic
PEM fuel cell to provide electricity for a village in India. They used and advanced exergy analyses in order find out the most suitable
the hybrid optimization model carried out by electrical renewable energy cost and efficient operating conditions for the society in
(HOMER) software in order to select the optimal system. Tehran city, Iran. According to the authors knowledge, advanced
Abadi et al., (Abadlia et al., 2017) investigated the control unit for exergy efficiency has not been applied before for the proposed
a system included photovoltaic cell and fuel cell whereas it was system. The work will serve the community with low economic
connected to the grid. In the proposed system, photovoltaic (PV) income to implement such system of low electricity cost in order to
cell was considered as a major power source and hydrogen fuel was solve the problem of high electricity bill paid by consumers.
the complimentary source. The power generated from PV ranges The innovations of this paper include:
were consistent with the user’s consumer load, as well as the
production surplus for the electrolysis of water used for hydrogen ! Feasibility study of hybrid system for power and hydrogen
production. The above system could switch to the network in production
parallel. Similar study was investigated by Dhabi et al. (Dahbi et al., ! Energy, exergy, advanced exergy and economic analyses are
2018). presented
Baik et al. (2018) presented the scheme of solar and wind energy ! Electricity cost is 0.127 $/kWh
resources and seasonal energy reserves in Djanet (East - South ! The highest hydrogen production is obtained 1420 kg/month in
Algeria). This study aimed to present an alternative solution to June.
power generation in Djanet, mainly based on the diesel generator. ! The highest exergetic efficiency are calculated as 8.2% in June.
Similar study has been done for Skyros, central region of Greece.
The annual energy efficiency of this hybrid power plant is 19.7%
(Petrakopoulou et al., 2016). The study of Bizon and Thounthong 2. Mathematical modeling
(2018) showed an optimal and subset of fuel cell hybrid power
systems. It was on basis of the maximum power point (with and 2.1. Energy analysis
without the global capability).
Arsalis et al. (2018) investigated a system of the photovoltaic Fig. 1 shows the schematic of the system where water is
cell, water electrolysis, and fuel cell for supplying power for 100 decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen by the electrolysis system.
families in Cyprus. According to the study, the cost of electricity was The produced hydrogen is stored in a storage tank and converted
calculated as 0.216 EUR/kWh, which was currently more than the into electricity and steam in the PEM fuel cell. Meanwhile, the
grid power price. The result of their research showed that if the electricity required for the electrolysis system is supplied by
operational life of fuel cell and electrolyzer was increased, with the photovoltaic cells.
reduction of photovoltaic cell prices, the electricity generated by The deflection angle ðdÞ is calculated by (John A. Duffie, 2013):
this system could compete with the price of grid electricity.
Yadav and Banerjee (2018) studied the economic aspects of a
system included solar electrical production system and electro-
lyzer. They found this system cannot compete with other hydrogen
production methods.
Similar researches about the hybrid systems of wind turbine and
photovoltaic systems to produce hydrogen were done by Maleki
et al. (2016) and Silva et al. (Da Silva et al., 2005). Bukar and Tan
(2019) investigated all of methods to produce hydrogen with
renewable energy resources. They also reviewed the optimization
techniques in this regard.
Instead of using PV to provide electricity for an electrolyzer,
parabolic trough solar collector (PTC) was used for that purpose
(Bagheri et al., 2019) where the electrolyzer fed a solid oxide fuel
cell with hydrogen. The study revealed that PTC was a better option
for the system due to the high operating temperature of the solid
oxide fuel cell and the study also revealed that the highest exergy
efficiency was about 27% and the minimum hydrogen levelized cost
was 4.43 $/kg.
According to the above mentioned references in the literature, it
can be stated no similar research has provided comprehensive
research on energy, exergy and economic analyses simultaneously.
In addition, there is no investigation in this regard for the location Fig. 1. Schematic diagram of the proposed system.
1084 M. Shaygan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 234 (2019) 1082e1093

! "
284 þ n H2 / 2Hþ þ 2e' (9)
d ¼ 23:45 sin 360 (1)
365
1
where n is the number of days. 2Hþ þ O2 þ 2e' /H2 O (10)
2
The angle of incident beam of radiation is calculated by (John A.
Duffie, 2013): Therefore, the fuel cell overall reaction is:

cosqz ¼ cos4cosdcosu þ sin4sind (2) 1

H2 þ O2 /H2 O þ work þ heat (11)
2
In which, 4 (Degree) is the latitude and u (Degree) is the hour
The energy conservation equation in the fuel cell is as follows:
angle. For this hour angle, 1 h is equivalent to 15& .
In a similar relation, solar radiation is calculated by (John A. DHtotal ¼ Hproduct ' Hreactant (12)
Duffie, 2013):
#p $ where DHtotal (kJ/kmol) is the maximum heat output from the fuel
I_b ¼ Ssin ' qz (3) cell, calculated based on the difference between Hproduct (kJ/kmol)
2
enthalpy of the product and Hreactant (kJ/kmol) enthalpy of reactant.
where Due to changes of volumes, pressures and other irreversibility’s
in the fuel cell, the net output energy of the fuel cell is calculated
% & '2 by:
S ¼ Gsc d d (4)
DG ¼ DHtotal ' TDS (13)
! "
d 1
¼ (5) where DG (kJ/kmol) is the maximum output of a fuel cell reaction
d ð1 ' 0:01673cosð2np=365ÞÞ
(the motion of electrons in an external circuit), which is known as
Gsc is a solar constant 1367 W/m2. Gibbs free energy changes, DS (kJ/kmolK) is the change of entropy
The average amount of output power that can be obtained daily and T (K) is the temperature of the fuel cell. For the fuel cell reac-
from the photovoltaic can be calculated by Bakelli et al. 2011: tion, the above equations can be conducted as follows:

E_ array ¼ Ib Aarray hpv fman ftemp fdirt Htilt N (6) Dgf ¼ gf ðproductsÞ ' gf ðreactantsÞ (14)

# $ # $ 1# $
where Aarray (m2) is the photovoltaic array area, hPV is the photo- Dgf ¼ gf ' gf ' g (15)
voltaic array efficiency, E_ array (W) is the average output power of H2O H2 2 f O2
the photovoltaic array, fman is the error of the output power (W) of The Gibbs free energy for the elements at the standard condi-
photovoltaic modules with an error of approximately ± 5% based on tions (25 & C and 1 atm) is zero. If the fuel cell voltage is denoted by
temperature of 25 & C for photovoltaic cells, ftemp is the e reduction E, then following relation should be considered (Barbir and Go !mez,
factor due to increase of temperature, fdirt is the reduction factor 1997):
due to pollution, Htilt is the radiation at sunrise hours for orienta-
tion and the specific collision angle which for Tehran is 5, N is the Dgf ¼ ' 2FVrev (16)
number of modules.
The amount of power reduction due to temperature increase can where Vrev (V) is the reversible voltage of the fuel cell and F is
be calculated by Bakelli et al. 2011: Faraday constant and it is equal to 96475 C (Coulombs).
$ The fuel cell enthalpy is calculated by Barbir and Go
! mez 1997:
f temp ¼ 1 ' ðgðTcell:eff ' 25Þ (7)
Dhf ¼ ' 2FVtheoretical (17)
o
where g (1/ C) is the temperature coefficient.
where Vtheoretical (V) is the theoretical voltage of the fuel cell.
The current generated in the photovoltaic cells is a direct cur-
The output voltage of the fuel cell is derived from the following
rent (DC), so that a converter or inverter should be used to convert
equation (Barbir and Go ! mez, 1997):
it to alternating current (AC). The converter output can be obtained
from the manufactures catalog, usually converters have a conver-
VFC ¼ Vnernst ' Vohmic ' Vactivation ' Vconcentration (18)
sion factor of 90e96%. A conversion factor of 92% is suggested,
which is suggested for the efficiency of the equipment used to where Vnernest (V) is the fuel cell open - circuit voltage with no
maximize the delivery capacity of the converter. losses, which is calculated by Barbir and Go
!mez 1997:
The system first law of thermodynamics is written:
DG DS # $ RT ( % ' 1 % '
)
X X Vnernst ¼ þ T ' Tref þ ln PH2 þ ln PO2 (19)
Q_ in þ W_ þ
in _ ¼ Q_ out þ W
mh _ out þ mh
_ (8) 2F 2F 2F 2
in out
In the above equation, DG (J =mol) shows the change in Gibbs
where Q_ and W _ (W) are rates of the exchanged heat and work free energy, DS ðJ =molKÞ indicates that the change of entropy and
(between the control volume and the surrounding), respectively, h PH2 and PO2 are the partial pressures of hydrogen and oxygen,
(J/kgK) is the specific enthalpy and m_ (kg/s) is the mass flow rate. respectively. The gas universal constant R is equal to 8:314
The subtitles “in” and “out” refer to the input and output of these J =mol:K, T ðKÞ is the fuel cell temperature and Tref ðKÞ is the
quantities between control volume and its surrounding. reference temperature. The values of DG and DS are calculated
The following chemical reactions occur at the anode and cath- based on standard temperature and pressure.
ode of PEM fuel cell, respectively: Vohm (V) represents the resistance voltage drop which is called
 M. Shaygan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 234 (2019) 1082e1093 1085

Ohm resistance and it is derived from the following relation (Barbir Go

! mez, 1997):
and Go
!mez, 1997):
1
H2 O þ electricity/H2 þ O2 (28)
Vohm ¼ iFC ðRM þ RC Þ (20) 2
The above chemical equation is used if the water entering the
where RC (U/cm) is the resistance of the electrodes against the
electrolyzer is fresh water. Due to the low hardness of water in
passing of electrons. Also, RM (U/cm) is the resistance of the elec-
Tehran. This item is ignored in this modeling.
trolyte against the transit of ions and it is obtained from the
The electrolyzer voltage efficiency is determined by the
following equations (Barbir and Go !mez, 1997):
following equation (Barbir and Go ! mez, 1997):
L
RM ¼ rM (21) 1:25
A hV ¼ (29)
Velz
" ! " ! "2:5 ! "2 #
The efficiency of the voltage in this study is considered to be
181:6 1 þ 0:03 iAFC þ 0:062 iAFC T
303 74%. Therefore, the operational voltage value of the electrolyzer is
rM ¼ ( ! ") ! ! "" (22) equal to Velz ¼ 2V .
iFC T'303 The hydrogen produced by the electrolyzer is calculated (Barbir
23 ' 0:634 ' 3 A
(exp 4:18 T
and Go! mez, 1997):
In which rM (U.cm) is the specific resistance of the membrane, A
W_
(cm2 ) is the fuel cell effective area and it is considered as 100 cm2, L MH2 ¼ elz
(30)
(cm) is the membrane thickness and iFC ðA=cm2 Þis the current 2$Velz $F
density of the fuel cell, which is assumed as 1.8. In the above equation, MH2 ðmole=sÞ indicates the molar rate of
Vact (V) indicates the reduction voltage of the activation in the the produced hydrogen.
electrode of anode and cathode and it is obtained from the Power consumption of compressor is calculated by:
following equation (Barbir and Go !mez, 1997):
0 1
* % ' + ! "k'1
Vact ¼ ' z1 þ z2 T þ z3 Tln CO2 þ z4 TlnðiFC Þ (23) T B P6 k C
_ c
W ¼ Cp $ 1 $ B ' 1C
A$m
_c (31)
hC @ P4
where

PO2 In the above equation, Cp (J/kgK) is the constant pressure spe-

CO2 ¼ ! " (24)
498 cific heat capacity of hydrogen and it is 14320 J/kgK. T1 (K) is the
5:08(10'6 exp ' T temperature of the hydrogen gas, which is considered 293 K P4 and
P6 (Pa) are the input and output pressures in the compressor,
In the above equations, x is the geometrical parameters that they respectively. k is the ratio of specific heat which is the isentropic
obtained based on the theoretical thermodynamic equations of expansion factor of hydrogen, hC is the mechanical efficiency of the
electrochemical reactions. So, the values for z1 , z2 , z3 and compressors is usually between 70% and 85% and m _ c is mass flow
z4 are '0.948, 0.0029, 0.000076 and '0.0000193,respectively. In rate of flow in the compressor (kg/s). The power of the compressor
addition, CO2 ðmol =cm3 Þ is the oxygen concentration at the is supplied by photovoltaic cells.
catalysis surface. The volume of the tank for a certain amount of hydrogen can be
Vcon represents the concentration voltage drop and it is calcu- calculated:
lated by the following equation (Barbir and Go !mez, 1997):
! " Mtank $Ttank $R
RT J Vtank ¼ (32)
Vcon ¼ ' ln 1 ' (25) Ptank
2F Jmax
In the above equation, Mtank ðkgÞ and Vtank ðlitÞ represent the
The value of J (current density) and Jmax (maximum current stored mass and volume of the hydrogen in the tank. Ptank ðPaÞ and
&
density) are 3 and 1050 mA cm2 ,respectively. Ttank ðKÞ are pressure and temperature of stored hydrogen and they
The consumed oxygen is usually supplied from the air. The are equal to 10 MPa and 293 K, respectively.
amount of consumed hydrogen is obtained from the following As electricity is produced by the DC fuel cell, a power regulation
equation (Barbir and Go
!mez, 1997): device converts the generated DC current into AC and also controls
the current, voltage and output frequency. The efficiency of the
W_
FC power conversion device is typically 94%e98%.
MH2 ¼ (26)
2$VFC $hFC $F

_ ¼ I $V $N
W (27) 2.2. Exergy analysis
FC FC FC FC

where VFC ðVÞ is the output voltage, hFC is the efficiency of the PEM The rate of exergy balance is written as follows (Dincer and
fuel cell. This efficiency is assumed by 80%. W _ Rosen, 2013a, b, c, d, e):
FC (W) is the output
power, NFC is the number of plates. X! " X
T0 _ _ þ
For the mathematical modeling of PEM fuel cell, first Vnernst is 1' Qi þ W in m_ i ex
calculated by equation (19), then the voltage losses (ohmic, acti-
Ti
in in
vation and concentration) are calculated by equations (20)e(26). X! T
" X
Real voltage of fuel cell is calculated by equation (18). Finally, the ¼ 1 ' 0 Q_ i þ W_ out þ _ i ex þ Ex
m _ D (33)
out
Ti out
power production of fuel cell is calculated by equation (27).
The overall reaction in the electrolyzer as follows (Barbir and _ D (W) is the exergy destruction,
In the above equation, Ex
1086 M. Shaygan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 234 (2019) 1082e1093

P P
m
_ i ex
_ i (W) is the sum of the input exergy rates, m_ i ex
_ i (W) is understanding of the effect of each component function is higher
in T0 out
the sum of the output exergy rates and Ti is the ratio of the ambient and the interaction between the components is clarified. With this
temperature to the flow temperature. method, it can be determined that the amount of exergy destruc-
The exergy rate balance and exergy efficiency for the various tion is related to the equipping itself and how much does it relate to
components of the system are shown in Table 1 (Ghorbani et al., other equipment’s in the cycle. (Bagheri et al., 2019; Kelly et al.,
2018; Shirmohammadi et al., 2018). 2009):
In the above table, subscripts 1 to 9 show the location consid-
n
ð1þiÞ
ering Fig. 1. D means destruction. PV, FC, and C mean photovoltaic, CI *ð1þiÞ n þ c0&M
'1
fuel cell and compressor, respectively, and subscript ex means CE ¼ (38)
Yearly Generated Energy*cf
exergy.
Ex_
10;solar (W) is the input exergy rate of solar beams to photo-
where superscripts EN and EX are presented as endogenous and
voltaic cells and it can be calculated by Kelly et al. 2009:
exogenous respectively.
" ! " ! "4 # Part of the destruction of exergy in a component due to pro-
T0 T
_
Ex10;solar ¼ APV I 1 ' 1:33 þ 0:33 0 (34) duction methods and industrial constraints is inevitable. The
Ts Ts remaining part is avoidable and it can be eliminated or at least
minimized. So the exergy destruction of each component is divided
where APV (m2) is the area of the photovoltaic cell, I (W/m2) is the into avoidable and unavoidable parts. In fact, the avoidable exergy
amount of received radiation by photovoltaic cell, T0 (K) is the destruction can be improved. For example, for photovoltaic system,
ambient temperature,Ts (K) is the sun temperature and it is the amount of exergy destruction that is related to solar radiation
assumed to 5780 K. beam is evitable. But the exergy destruction that is related to ma-
The system energy and exergy efficiencies are calculated by: terial used in photovoltaic cells (for example reduction efficiency of
photovoltaic cells with increasing temperature) can be improved
_
W _
FC ' Wc (Bagheri et al., 2019; Kelly et al., 2009):
hen;sys ¼ (35)
IbApv þ m_ 2 h2
UV AV
E_ D;K ¼ E_ D;K þ E_ D;K (39)
W_ _
FC ' Wc
hex;sys ¼ (36) In the above equation AV and UV subscript represent avoidable
_
Ex þ Ex _
10 2 and unavoidable terms, respectively.
Advanced exergy analysis, in addition to dividing the exergy
hen;sys and hex;sys are system energy and exergy efficiencies.
destruction into two parts, endogenous and exogenous, classifies
each of these divisions into two avoidable and unavoidable terms.
2.3. Economic analysis Thus, the exergy destruction of each component is divided into four
parts; unavoidable endogenous, avoidable endogenous, unavoid-
The electricity cost is calculated by (Charles T. Horngren, 2016; able exogenous and avoidable exogenous terms, and it can be
Frangopoulos, 1987): calculated by (Bagheri et al., 2019; Kelly et al., 2009):
n
ð1þiÞ
CI ( ð1þiÞ þ CO&M EN;UN EN;AV EX;UN EX;AN
n
'1 E_ D;K ¼ E_ D;K þ E_ D;K þ E_ D;K þ E_ D;K (40)
CE ¼ (37)
Yearly Generated Energy*cf
So in advanced exergy analysis, the exergy destruction of each
where n presents the project’s lifetime (25 years), CI ($) is the initial component is divided to four parts. Two of these parts are evitable
investment cost,CO&M ($) is the maintenance cost, cf is the system that they can be improved by optimization of cycle, promotion of
capacity factor and i is the bank interest rate (3%). material used, etc. Two of them are inevitable due to physical re-
strictions. For example, the energy efficiency of internal combus-
tion (IC) engines cannot increase Carnot efficiency.
2.4. Advanced exergy analysis

In advanced exergy analysis, we have two parts of exergy 3. Results and discussion
destruction. One part is due to its irreversibility, which is known as
the endogenous exergy destruction. The second part is due to the Tehran is the capital of Iran which is geographically located at
ineffectiveness of other components of the system that applies to 51& 170 to 51& 330 in the East, 35& 360 to 35& 44’ in the North
this component; which is known as the exogenous exergy (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tehran) (Mohammadi and Mehrpooya,
destruction. With the separation of the exergy destruction, our 2019) (Mohammadi and Mehrpooya, 2019).

Table 1
The balance of exergy rate and exergy efficiency for the system components.

Components Exergy rate balance Exergy efficiency

Electrolyzer _
Ex _ _ _ _
1 þ Ex2 ¼ Ex4 þ Ex3 þ ExD electrolyzer
_
Ex 4
hex electrolyzer ¼
_ þ Ex _
Ex1 2
Compressor _ c þ Ex
W _ _ _
4 ¼ Ex6 þ ExD c 6
_
Ex
hex; c ¼ _ _
Wc þ Ex 4
Fuel cell _ 7 ¼W
Ex _ _ _
FC þ Ex9 þ ExD;FC
_
W
hex;FC ¼ _ FC
Ex7
Photovoltaic cell _
Ex _ _
10;solar ¼ WPV þ ExD;PV
_
W
hex; PV ¼ _ PV
Ex10
 M. Shaygan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 234 (2019) 1082e1093 1087

35
500
30

400 25

Tambient (oC)
20
It (W/m2)
300

15
200
Solar radiation 10

100
Ambient temperature 5

0 0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Fig. 2. Average monthly solar radiation and air temperature for the city of Tehran.

The average monthly radiation and average air temperature

values for the city of Tehran are presented in Fig. 2 (www.weather.
ir) (Patel et al., 2017) (Patel et al., 2017). In Fig. 3 the flowchart for
solving the equations is presented. For mathematical modeling of
this system, one program is written in MATLAB software. This
program follows the flow chart that is shown in Fig. 3. For calcu-
lation the thermodynamic properties of water and hydrogen, the
Refprop software is used.
In Fig. 4 the results of this study are compared with reference
results (Molavi dariani et al., 2007). The reason for the small dif-
ference in the results is due to the application of different voltage
drop equation.
For validation of the results, the data of reference (Ismail et al.,
2019) is considered. In reference (Ismail et al., 2019), a photovol-
taic system with PEM electrolyzer is installed in Suez city, Egypt.
Fig. 23 of this reference shows the hydrogen flow rate produc-
tion during different hours of 21 th March 2016 in Suez city.
For comparison the results, the data of this reference is inserted
to the code as inlet information. Fig. 5 shows the comparison be-
tween the data of reference (Ismail et al., 2019) with the results of
Fig. 3. Flow chart of solving the equations. the model developed for this paper.

1.6

1.4

1.2

1
VFC(v)

0.8

0.6

0.4 Present research

0.2 Ref

0
0.1 0.2 0.3 0.4 0.5 0.6 0.7 0.8 0.9
iFC (A/cm2)
Fig. 4. Validation of the results with reference.
1088 M. Shaygan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 234 (2019) 1082e1093

Hydrogen producion (ml/s)

3

1 Ref (Ismail et al., 2019)

Model

0
0:00 2:24 4:48 7:12 9:36 12:00 14:24 16:48
Fig. 5. Comparison between the data of reference (Ismail et al., 2019) with the results of the model.

In Table 2, system design specifications are presented. The price considerable amount. In three months of May, June and July, the
of the system components is presented in Table 3 (B. D. James, 2016; maximum electrical power production is produced.
G. Parks, 2014; Schmidt et al., 2017). Fig. 7 shows the hydrogen production and water consumption of
The cost of operation and maintenance is assumed to be 3% of the system for different months of a year. Maximum value of
the initial installation cost. Characteristics of photovoltaic cells used hydrogen production is 158 kg/month in June and the minimum
in this study are shown in Table 4. Table 4 corresponds to the value is equal to 62.1 kg/month in December. Similar to Fig. 5, the
technical specifications of the poly group ND module of Sharp
Company (Model: NU-A188EY). This type of module has the
maximum power of 188 W and 48 cells, with a total area of
Table 4
0.0245 m2 per cell in this simulation (Origin Energy) The characteristic of photovoltaic cells.
(Shirmohammadi et al., 2015).
Model ND195R1s
Average monthly electrical power production by the photovol-
taic cell is shown in Fig. 6. Electrical power production by the Max power at standard condition 188 W
Rectified voltage at standard condition 1000 VDC
photovoltaic cell is consistent with solar radiation (Fig. 2).
Voltage at max power and standard condition 23.66 V
The maximum monthly average electrical power production by Current at max power and standard condition 8.27 A
photovoltaic cell is 6810 W in June. The minimum value of electrical Open circuit voltage at standard condition 29.6 V
power production is 2670 W in December. The standard deviation Short circuit current at standard condition 8.6 A
of electrical power production is equal to 4140W, which is a Max allowable current at standard condition 15 A
Allowable temperature range '40e90 & C
Nominal temperature 47.5 & C
Efficiency 14.24%
Table 2 Output power fault 5%
System design specification. Cell number per module 48
Cell size 156.5*156.5 mm2
System specification Values Diameter of front glass 3 mm
Weight 16.5 kg
Area of photovoltaic module (m2) 2.16
Number of photovoltaic cell modules 64
Cell angle ratio (Degree) 30
Tank volume (m3) 0.8 8,000
compressor pressure ratio 10
Fuel cell temperature (K) 338 7,000
Fuel cell pressure (kPa) 200
The area of each sheet of fuel cell (cm2) 100 6,000
Number of fuel cell sheets 70
Fuel cell current density (A/cm2) 1.8 5,000
(W)

Fuel cell voltage (V) 0.8

4,000
array

3,000
Table 3
Cost of system components. 2,000

Components Investment cost ($) 1,000

Photovoltaic cells 212 per module
Electrolyzer 1.86 per W 0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Compressor 1.7 per W
Hydrogen tank 1.9 per m3
Fig. 6. The average monthly electrical power production by the photovoltaic cells.
 M. Shaygan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 234 (2019) 1082e1093 1089

1400
500

1200

Water consumption (kg/month)

Hydrogen producion (kg/month)
400
1000
Hydrogen production
300 800
Water consumption
600
200

400
100
200

0 0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec

Fig. 7. The monthly average hydrogen production and water consumption by the studied system.

maximum and minimum values are in June and December, Maximum and minimum exergy destruction rates are related to
respectively. photovoltaic cells and compressor. Since in photovoltaic cells, we
Fig. 8 shows the monthly average of system energy efficiency have a large amount of inlet exergy (equation (36)) from the sun, a
where the highest energy efficiency is in January and December large amount of this exergy is wasted in the photovoltaic cells. In
months. electrolyzer and fuel cell, also the considerable exergy destructions
Perhaps at first glance, the highest energy efficiency should be in are seen due to the chemical reaction in these components.
the months that have the highest solar radiation, while the oppo- The price of electricity produced by the system is estimated to
site is observed. In the cold seasons of the year, although the solar be 0.127 $/kWh. Fig. 11 shows the comparison of this price with
radiation is low, the efficiency of the fuel cell and the photovoltaic other electricity costs produced by other renewable energy re-
cell is increased due to the decrease in temperature. On the other sources (Bahiraei et al., 2019) (Bahiraei et al., 2019).
hand, the denominator energy efficiency (equation (35)) is reduced Electricity cost of this system is lower than the electricity cost
in cold seasons. So, the sum of these effects results in higher energy produced by offshore wind turbine and solar thermal and it is
efficiency in cold months than hot months. In general, we can also higher than the other renewable resources shown in Fig. 11. Of
conclude that for the proposed system efficiency, the temperature course, this comparison is relative, because the exact calculation of
is a more important factor than solar radiation. electricity prices by renewable resources depends on several fac-
Fig. 9 is the monthly average of the overall exergy efficiency of tors. These factors are the potential of the energy source in the area,
the system. The trend of change is similar to energy efficiency. the price of the desired power generation and the method of energy
Fig. 10 shows the annual exergy destruction for different compo- storage.
nents of the system. The cost of electricity of this system is higher than electrical cost

25

20

15
en,sys (%)

10

0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Fig. 8. The monthly average of the energy efficiency of the system.
1090 M. Shaygan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 234 (2019) 1082e1093

25

20

15
ex,sys (%)

10

0
Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Fig. 9. The average monthly exergy efficiency of the system.

50
45
40 37.67
35
30
(kW)

25
D

20
15.05
15
9.66
10
5 3.70

0
FC Elec PV Com
Fig. 10. The annual average value of exergy destruction for different system components.

1 The air pollution is a main problem of Tehran city. This system

0.2
0.17 does not produce any air pollution in operation. So for selection
this system or similar systems, we should also consider the
0.15 0.14
0.127 social cost of air pollution.
CE ($/kWh)

0.1 2 Centralized power plant also has huge losses in electrical

0.1
network (Both transfer and distribution). But this system can be
0.06 0.06
0.05
0.06 used as a dispersed power generation system.
0.05 3 In remote area around Tehran, which the electrical power
transmission is very hard or impossible. This system can be a
0 choice. Since the potential of solar energy in Tehran is high.

Table 5 shows the values of endogenous unavoidable, endoge-

nous avoidable, exogenous unavoidable and exogenous avoidable
related to exergy destruction. Fig. 12 shows the percentage of
Fig. 11. Comparison of electricity cost for various renewable energy resource.
avoidable and unavoidable endogenous and exogenous exergy
destruction for total equipment’s of a system.
of centralized power plant, too. But for selection the best system, In the photovoltaic cell, the major part of exergy destruction is
we should consider the following points: related to unavoidable endogenous exergy destruction (%94.9). The
reason is the dependence of inlet exergy of photovoltaic cell to
 M. Shaygan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 234 (2019) 1082e1093 1091

Table 5
Endogenous unavoidable, endogenous avoidable, exogenous unavoidable, and exogenous avoidable values for exergy destruction.

E_ D (kW)

EN,UN EN,AV EX,UN EX,AV Total

PV 35.8 1.8 0 0 37.7

Elec 1.6 2.3 9.4 1.7 15.05
Com 0.56 0.26 2.28 0.6 3.7
FC 1.04 0.12 8.2 0.3 9.66

respectively. So for the compressor, we can reduce exergy

destruction of about 7.0%.
In the PEM fuel cell, avoidable endogenous and exogenous
exergy destructions are 10.8% and 3.1% of the total exergy
destruction, respectively.
In general, in cycles whom their configurations are linear and
they do not have a loop, previous equipment has considerable ef-
fects on exergy destruction of the next equipment.

4. Conclusion

This work presented the energy, exergy, advanced energy and

economic analysis of hybrid system consisting of photovoltaic cells,
electrolyzer and polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell to provide
a clean power to run an electrolyzer for hydrogen production. The
produced hydrogen is compressed and then stored in a storage tank
which is connected to the fuel cell for electricity production when
needed. The proposed hybrid system is completely clean energy
system with no greenhouse gas emissions. Using the thermody-
namic and economic analyses, the main results f this work are
summarized as:

Fig. 12. Percent of avoidable and unavoidable endogenous and exogenous exergy ! The highest average annual exergy destruction is in the photo-
destruction of total equipment of system. voltaic cells as 37.67 kW and the lowest exergy destruction is in
compressor as 3.7 kW, respectively.
! The minimum energy and exergy efficiencies are 7.5% and 8.2%
ambient temperature sun temperatures and solar radiation in June, respectively.
(Equation (34)). These values cannot be optimized or changed by ! Electricity prices are competitive with the production of the
the manufacturers of photovoltaic cell. So it is unavoidable. offshore wind turbine and solar thermal cost of electricity.
For calculation the exergy destruction avoidable and unavoid- ! The maximum use of hydrogen and hydrogen production are
able exergy destruction rate, the following steps are considered: 158 kg/month and 1420 kg/month in June, respectively.
! The highest value of unavoidable endogenous exergy destruc-
_ D;PV ¼ Ex
1) Calculation the exergy destruction rate with Ex _
10;solar ' tion is in the photovoltaic cell as 94.9%.
W_ PV in real condition
2) We assume the efficiency of photovoltaic cell is 100% and again According to the costs of components that are associated with
the exergy destruction rate is calculated. the fuel cell and electrolyzer, the photovoltaic-hydrogen based
3) Difference between the values calculated in steps 1 and 2 is system may become more attractive in future with the use of PEM
unavoidable exergy destruction rate. Because we cannot pro- based technology. Moreover, more recommended research based
mote the efficiency of photovoltaic cells beyond 100%. on this study should be investigated in the future, the parameters of
4) Difference between total exergy destruction and unavoidable such future research should include:
exergy destruction is avoidable exergy destruction.
5) In photovoltaic cell, the exogenous exergy destruction is not ! PV material which results in better efficiency of the system for
existed. Since other components which is installed after improved PV material
photovoltaic do not have any effects on it. ! Air pollution which results in a decreasing the system efficiency
! Types of hydrogen storage system which may include phase
In the electrolyzer, the major part of exergy destruction is change material
related to exogenous unavoidable. Since the photovoltaic cells ! the system components can be optimized by using Particle
exergy destruction effects depend on the electrolyzer. Also by Swarm Optimization to minimize the exergy destruction
promoting the design and efficiency, 15% (2.3 kW) of electrolyzer ! Life cycle analysis should be conducted
exergy destruction can be reduced.
In the compressor, the major part of exergy destruction is
Nomenclature
related to exogenous unavoidable exergy destruction (61% or
2.28 kW). Also, the endogenous avoidable and unavoidable exergy
A Effective area cell (m2)
destruction rates are 0. 26 kW (7.03%) and 0. 56 kW (15.14%),
C Cost ($)
1092 M. Shaygan et al. / Journal of Cleaner Production 234 (2019) 1082e1093

CE Cost of electricity ($/kWh) D,K Destruction for component K

cf System capacity factor elz Electrolyze
Cp Specific heat at constant pressure (kJ/kgK) ensys Energy of the system
CO2 Oxygen concentrationðmol =cm3 Þ exsys Exergy of the system
d Distance between sun and earth (m) ex Exergy
e Specific exergy (J/kg) EN Endogenous
E_ Average output power (W) EX Exogenous
_
Ex Rate of exergy (W) FC Fuel cell
f Reduction factorð96475 CÞ H2 O Water
F Farady constant H2 Hydrogen gas
gf Specific Gibbs free energy I Initial
G Gibbs free energy (kJ/kg) in Input
Gsc Solar constant equal to 1367 (W/m2) man Manufacturer
h Specific enthalpy (kJ/kg) max Maximum
H Average solar radiation in equation (7) O&M Operation and maintenance
H Enthalpy (kJ/kmol) out Output
iFC Electricity current density of the fuel cell (A/m2) O2 Oxygen gas
Ib Solar radiation (W/m2) PV Photovoltaic
J Current density (mA/cm! 2) " product Product
k Ratio of specific heat k ¼ CCVP reactant Reactant
L Longitude (Degree) rev Reversible
L Membrane thickness (cm) in equation (22 sys System
m _ Mass flow rate (kg/s) tank Storage tank
M Mole production (mole/h) temp Temperature
M Mass (kg) in Equation (33) theo Theoretical
N Number of Plate tilt Tilt of panel
n Number of cells or Equipment life (Year) in Equation UV Unavoidable
(42) V Voltage
n Number of days in equation (1)
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