Life Cycle Assessment of Bipolar Plates in Fuel Cell Electric Vehicle Applications

Abstract

This thesis investigates the environmental impact of two types of bipolar plate (BPP) materials used in fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEVs): composite and metallic based BPPs. In total, one steel and four composite BPPs were compared, two biobased and two state-of the-art BPPs. Using the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology in accordance with ISO 14040/44 standards, the study evaluates cradle-to-gate impacts across several categories including global warming potential, human toxicity, acidification, and abiotic resource depletion. The data used to model the production of the composites, was from both primary and secondary sources. The metallic BPP data was gathered from secondary sources such as Ecoinvent and literature. OpenLCA was used to model the systems, with a functional unit of 1 kW power output for comparability. This work was carried out in collaboration with the public project BioBPP 2, focused on developing renewable bipolar plates for sustainable fuel cell technology. Results show that the bio-based BPP offers significant potential for environmental impact reduction compared to the other materials. Furthermore, a future scenario with local graphite mining would provide even grater environmental impact reductions. These findings aim to provide valuable insights for stakeholders and support future material development for sustainable fuel cell systems.