Theoretical determination and comparison with experimental data for the amount of water produced by a proton exchange membrane fuel cell

摘要

Water and energy production and demand are interconnected.Proton exchange membrane fuel cells(PEMFCs)are devices that produce water while they generate power using hydrogen as a fuel.Herein,we show the validation of the theoretical results against experimental data of the water produced by PEMFC.The experimental data was obtained from a 25 cm2 lab-scale PEMFC.The results indicate that PEMFC is capable of producing enough drinking water to satisfy the daily needs of a typical US household while generating electricity.Recovering the water produced by PEMFCs would convert the hydrogen into a carrier of energy and water.This concept will be important if a transitional hydrogen economy takes place in the next three or four decades.Additional work is needed to evaluate different systems to improve their water recovery efficiency.