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ELECTROLYSER

A Technical Appraisal of Electrolyser Characteristics
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6. RECOMMENDATIONS

Our recommendation for hydrogen production is the use of a PEM electrolyser. This recommendation is based on the following issues:

1. The comparatively small electrolyte volume causes only small amounts of hydrogen and oxygen to be in solution with the electrolyte. This yields rapid response because wasted time due to adjustment is proportional to the electrolyte concentration.

2. Since the electrolyte is fixed, it has quick start-up and shut-down characteristics because there is not need of circulate the electrolyte until the reagents are removed to prevent explosive mixing. This makes this kind of electrolyser suitable for variable electricity loads coming from renewable energy sources. 

3. PEM systems are capable of sustaining relatively high current densities (between 1 and 2 A/cm2 compared to 500mA/cm2 for traditional technologies).

4. There are no free ions so the electrolyte concentration remains constant during operation, this produces conductivity to be invariant during operation.

Efficiencies are independent of the size of the electrolyser  whereas the cost increases roughly linearly with size.

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Enquiries and comments to pvhydrogen@strath.ac.uk
Energy Systems Research Unit
University of Strathclyde
Glasgow