Improvement of CO tolerance of proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) by an air-bleeding technique

Abstract

The investigation studies improving PEMFC carbon monoxide by a periodic air dosing. The carbon monoxide in the fuel gas leads to a significant loss in power density due to CO poisoning in the anode. The method involves bleeding air into the anode fuel stream (H-2-CO), which contains CO in various concentrations (20, 52.7, 100 ppm). In the transient CO poisoning test, air-bleeding is performed for four different periodic air dosing and cell voltage is fixed at 0.6 V. The result of a dosing of air during 10 sec in intervals of 10 sec is similar to that of continuous air-bleeding except 100 ppm CO. The CO tolerance of the fuel cell and cell performance recovery from poisoning can be improved by air-bleeding.