SEE607- Hydrogen Energy: Production, Storage and Utilization

Department of Sustainable Energy Engineering

Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur
2024-25, 2nd Semester

Assignment-1
Due date: 19 February 2025 Midnight at HelloIITK Only

Guidelines:

• Write/type neatly and clearly without any grammatical/calculation mistakes

• Recheck your work before submission

• Show all calculations/hypothesis/assumptions. Even if you get your answers wrong, you can still
get marks for correct line of thought and process

• All figures should be in good resolution and properly labeled. Make sure the axis labels, ticks,
and legends are clearly readable. For plots, label both the axes properly

Problem 1 (15 Marks): Methanol can be used as a fuel the fuel cell, the overall reaction is as
follows:
2CH3 OH(l) + 3O2,(g) → 2CO2,(g) + 4H2 O(l)
The electrolyte is an acidic membrane called Nafion. The thermodynamic properties of the species are
given in the table at the end of the question. Determine the following:

(i) Maximum energy released from this reaction for each mole of methanol at STP.

(ii) Maximum electrical energy obtainable per mole of methanol at STP.

(iii) Following are the half cell reactions.

Electrode 1: 2CH3 OH + 2H2 O → 12H + + 12e− + 2CO2 , (1)

−
Electrode 2: 12H + 12e + 3O2 → 6H2 O.
+
(2)

Can you tell which reaction is happening at cathode and which one at anode? Justify your answer

(iv) Based on this, can you estimate the open circuit voltage (OCV) of this cell at STP.

(v) The Gibbs energy change can be estimated as:

d(∆G) = ∆vdP − ∆sdT

Based on this, can you estimate open circuit voltage of this cell at 80 ◦ C. Assume that ∆v and
∆s are constant w.r.t. temperature.

(vi) How much would the OCV change if oxygen was provided at 5bar

1
 Species h0f at STP (kJ/mol) s0 at STP(J/mol·K)
CH3 OH(l) -238.4 127.2
O2(g) 0 205.03
CO2(g) -393.51 213.69
H2 O(g) -241.83 188.83
H2 O(l) -285.83 69.95

Problem 2 (15 Marks): In a fuel cell, the following reactions take place in anode and cathode:

Anode:2H2 ↽ 4H + + 4e−
⇀
Cathode: 4H + + 4e− + O2 ⇀
↽ 2H2 O(l)

Even though these are multi-electron transfer reactions, let’s assume that 1-electron kinetics formula-
tions like Butler-Volmer can be used in this case. Reminder: For a single electron transfer reduction
reaction O + e− ⇀ ↽ R, the net rate of reaction (or net current) is given by Butler-Volmer equation as:
[ ( ) ( )]
CO αF CR (1 − α)F
i = i0 ∗ exp − RT η − C ∗ exp
CO RT
η
R

where the overpotential η is estimated as η = ϕs − ϕel − E0 for each half-cell reaction.

For this problem, we can neglect other losses, e.g., Ohmic and mass transport losses. Assume that
the electrolyte potential ϕel = 0 and the concentrations are the same as bulk, i.e., C
CO
CR
∗ = C ∗ = 1. The
O
R
kinetics parameters for both half-reactions are given as follows:

Parameter H2 reaction O2 reaction

i0 400 A/m2 2.03 × 10−2 A/m2
α 0.4 0.5
E0 0V 1.23 V

i) Based on this, can you estimate and plot the cell voltage vs current characteristic or vice-versa
(polarization-curve) of the fuel cell for currents upto 1 A/cm2 . Assume the electrolyzer is running
at 1 bar and 298 K.

ii) Can you also plot the consumption rate of H2 as a function of cell voltage

Hint: To get i − V characteristic of any system, you must estimate the i − η characteristic of anode
and cathode reactions. Then using the η find the voltage of each electrode and then find the total
voltage difference between both electrodes for any given current.

Problem 3 (20 Marks): You are required to design an electrolysis system which can generate 100
kg H2 /day, while operating for 6 Hrs/day. You have already decided on a manufacturer, which makes
individual cells of size 250 cm2 with the following polarization curve. Each cell is expected to last for
10 years (Assume 365 days in each year). You have to run the plant for 10 years. Your ultimate aim
is to minimize the cost (capital+electrical) over 10 years. Each single cell of 250 cm2 costs approx Rs.
47000. The electricity cost is Rs. 6/Unit. Can you now design the electrolysis system for the minimum
total cost over 10 years. Answer the following with detailed calculations and optimization:
(To get the relationship between i and V , you can assume that the red line represents the
pol-curve since we will likely be operating above 1 A/cm2 )

2
• At which operating point (i, V ) will you operate each cell

• How many cells would you require in the stack

• What would be the levelized cost of hydrogen for break-even

Figure 1: Electrolyzer pol curve