Solar Hydrogen Production Using Direct Coupling Of So2 Depolarized Electrolyser To A Solar Photovoltaic System

To obtain clean hydrogen production from a renewable energy source, direct coupling of photovoltaic and SO2 depolarized electrolysis (SDE) is one of the most promising alternative options. Both incident solar radiation variability and operating SDE parameters can affect the performance of such system. However, a big challenge is to have an efficient relative sizing. In fact, relative sizing is always a key issue when coupling renewable electric sources to SDE electrolysers. The aim is to determine the operation conditions and the optimal size of the direct coupling of a photovoltaic array to a SDE that ensure maximum hydrogen production while minimizing the energy consumption. In this study, a detailed two part-modeling approach has been used to estimate a system relative sizing for hydrogen production in a desired location. First, a simple model based on the extraction of the maximum power delivered by the photovoltaic array as function of temperature conditions and solar irradiation is developed. The model results are validated with experimental data of commercial PV module Second and in order to predict the maximum hydrogen production of SO2 depolarized electrolysis as a function of the consumed power, the SDE polarization curve is determined using a model and validated by experimental data. For the site of Bouzareah (Algiers), the results indicate that, for the case of global solar radiation on horizontal surface, the optimal combination of the integrated system is of one stack of 14 cells mounted in series and 17 stacks of 14 cells connected in parallel. In this case the global annual loss is 14.11%. For the same site but in the case of the global solar radiation on tilted surface, though the best sizing is still the same combination of series/parallel cells, the global annual loss is 20.80%. (C) 2018 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.