Impact of fuel cell range extender powertrain design on greenhouse gases and NOX emissions in automotive applications

[EN] Fuel cell (FC) technologies for mobility are gaining interest as promising options to decarbonize the transport sector in line with the current progress towards the H-2 economy. Previous studies show how the fuel cell range extender (FCREx) powertrain architecture can offer flexible and efficie...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Desantes J.M.|||0000-0002-4124-9393, Novella Rosa, Ricardo|||0000-0002-5123-6924, Pla Moreno, Benjamín|||0000-0001-9238-2939, López-Juárez, Marcos|||0000-0001-9886-4728
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2021
País:España
Institución:Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV)
Repositorio:RiuNet. Repositorio Institucional de la Universitat Politécnica de Valéncia
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:riunet.upv.es:10251/182595
Acceso en línea:https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/182595
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Hydrogen
Fuel cell vehicle
Range-extender
Driving cycle
Sizing
LCA
MAQUINAS Y MOTORES TERMICOS
Descripción
Sumario:[EN] Fuel cell (FC) technologies for mobility are gaining interest as promising options to decarbonize the transport sector in line with the current progress towards the H-2 economy. Previous studies show how the fuel cell range extender (FCREx) powertrain architecture can offer flexible and efficient operation along with the potentially low total cost of ownership (TCO) in passenger car applications. Cradle-to-grave emissions of these vehicles have not been estimated, nor their variation with the components sizing or the H-2 production pathway analyzed. In this study, the life cycle assessment (LCA) and sizing methodologies were combined to address these knowledge gaps. The design spaces were generated by varying the FC maximum power, the battery capacity and the H-2 tank capacity and by simulating the resulting designs with the WLTC 3b driving cycle. Then, the lifetime H-2 and energy consumption results and design parameters were calculated and used as inputs to estimate the greenhouse gases (GHG) and NOX emissions on the manufacturing and fuel production cycles. From the results, it was proven how considering steam methane reforming (SMR) with carbon capture and storage (CCS) as the H-2 production pathway could decrease by 60% and 38% GHG-100 and NOX emissions respectively, with respect to electrolysis where electricity is generated with the EU mix. The optimum design, in terms of emissions, was found to be with low-moderate battery capacity and moderate-high FC maximum power in contrast to the optimum design for performance, which had high battery capacity and high FC stack power.