Conference Year
2021
Keywords
Electrochemical Compression, Ammonia, Hydrogen, Nernst voltage, compression ratio
Abstract
Ammonia is widely used as a refrigerant in air conditioning, food preservation and for fuel storage purposes. Ammonia is an attractive candidate for electrochemical compression (ECC). Electrochemical compressors can be an ideal replacement for mechanical compressors because of noiseless operation, higher efficiencies at lower voltages and the ability to operate without the use of Global Warming Potential (GWP) working fluids. This paper explores the electrochemical compression of ammonia with hydrogen as a carrier gas, using fuel cell type hardware. A perfluorosulfonic acid (PFSA) membrane allows the transfer of ammonia, using hydrogen as a carrier gas, by the conduction of NH4+ ions from anode to cathode. The ECC performance was evaluated using electrochemical methods using a single cell at STP. The effects of back-diffusion in the compression process are highlighted and suggestions to improve the ECC of ammonia-hydrogen blends are proposed.