Sustainable Fuel Cell Filter
Typ
Examensarbete på kandidatnivå
Program
Publicerad
2022
Författare
Augustsson, Erik
Bergander, Samuel
Hidesjö, Sanna
Johansson, Arvid
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
Proton Exchange Membranes Fuel Cells (PEMFC) use hydrogen and oxygen in an electrochemical reaction to create electrical energy. For this reaction to occur, air sufficiently free from pollutants is required. Pollutants will degrade the PEMFC resulting in both temporary and permanent power reduction. To prevent this deterioration a cathode air filtration system is used. The currently widely adopted filter solution for PEMFC is an activated carbon (AC) filter combined with a paper filter. The filter offers effective filtration but is broadly considered to be non-sustainable for the environment. This is mostly due to its non-ability to be recycled, and it is thus thrown out after use. In this thesis a team from Chalmers University of Technology together with a team from Pennsylvania State University attempt to find an alternative to the AC in the filter technology, this is done by request of the client of this thesis, Volvo Penta. Concluding that there is, at the time of writing, no way to completely change out the AC without severe consequences to the performance of the filter, a combination of technologies is the final recommendation from the team to the client, to extend the life of the AC and thus make it more sustainable. Several new technologies can and should be explored further however the final solution concept for this thesis is a filtration process combining activated alumina (AA) and AC.