HYCORA

Hydrogen Contaminant Risk Assessment

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 Obiettivo del progetto (Objective)

'In HyCoRA project, a strategy for cost reduction for hydrogen fuel quality assurance QA is developed and executed. For developing this strategy, hydrogen quality risk assessment is used to define the needs for hydrogen impurity gas analysis, system level PEMFC contaminant research as well as needs for purification needs in hydrogen production, especially produced by steam methane reforming (SMR).

The use of qualitative and quantitative risk assessment enables identification of critical needs for gas analysis development and guides the research work on those issues, which require most attention. The development of quantitative risk model enables implementation of data from other parallel activities in USA, Japan and Korea.

The measurement campaigns in hydrogen refuelling stations, as well as in SMR production units, provide quantitative data, which can be used for identification of canary species, when analysed with help of quantitative risk assessment.

Essential part of the HyCoRA project is hydrogen contaminant research in PEMFC system level. The research is performed in down-scaled automotive fuel cell systems, which can replicate all the features of full-scale automotive fuel cell systems, including the change of gases in the anode and cathode during the start-stop cycling. The contaminants and levels to be studied are, excluding obvious carbon monoxide, determined using risk assessment with help of automotive advisory board.

The main objective of HyCoRA project is to provide information to lower reduce cost of hydrogen fuel QA. However, it will also provide recommendations for revision of existing ISO 14687-2:2012 standard for hydrogen fuel in automotive applications.'

Introduzione (Teaser)

Understanding the requirements for hydrogen fuel quality and quality assurance for road vehicles is the key to decreasing the cost of hydrogen for the large-scale commercialisation of fuel cell road vehicles.

Descrizione progetto (Article)

Funded by the EU, the project http://hycora.eu/ (HYCORA) (Hydrogen contaminant risk assessment) is working out a strategy for significantly decreasing the cost of hydrogen quality assurance.

The project uses risk assessment to identify critical needs for hydrogen impurity gas analysis, contamination of proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFCs) and purified hydrogen. The focus is mainly on steam reforming for hydrogen production and pressure swing adsorption for purification.

Research regarding the contamination of PEMFCs is performed in single cella and in a down-scaled automotive fuel cell system. The possible mitigation effect due the start and stop is analysed. The contaminants and their levels are determined and used in risk assessment with the help of an automotive advisory board.

Measurement campaigns in hydrogen refuelling stations will provide quantitative data regarding the fuel composition and variations in impurity concentrations.

Work on the susceptibility of hydrogen contaminants and characterisation of analytical methods for hydrogen quality assurance has already started. Project partners have obtained significant results on the hydrogen poisoning rate. In particular, they have found that the effect of carbon monoxide on catalyst poisoning rate highly depends on the current density and seems to depend on the cathode gas diffusion layer.

The first version of a qualitative risk model has been presented at a workshop in Brussels.

Contaminant measurements in fuel cells are providing the possibility of revising current standards for hydrogen quality characteristics in automotive applications. HYCORA should ultimately lead to cheaper and more reliable quality assurance procedures and instrumentation for hydrogen refuelling stations.