MAE Seminar: Equipment Advancements in Electrolyzer Technologies: PEM and AEM Electrolyzers with 3D Modeling

Abstract: Electrolyzers play a critical role in hydrogen production, with Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) and Anion Exchange Membrane (AEM) electrolyzers emerging as leading technologies for efficient and scalable hydrogen generation. This talk will provide an overview of the fundamental principles and operational mechanisms of both PEM and AEM electrolyzers. The discussion will highlight key differences, performance metrics and application potentials in renewable energy systems. 

PEM electrolyzers have received increasing attention for renewable hydrogen production through water splitting. In present work, a three-dimensional (3-D) multi-physics model is established for PEM electrolyzer to describe the two-phase flow, electron/proton transfer, mass transport, and water electrolysis kinetics with focus on the porous transport layer (PTL) and the channel-land structure. After comparing several sets of experimental data, the model is employed to investigate PTL, flow field, and catalyst impact on liquid water saturation and local current density.   

AEM electrolyzer is an electrolysis technology that combines the advantages of alkaline liquid electrolysis (ALE) and PEM electrolyzers. The stack build needs to consider frames, sealing, pressure vessel, manifold, and shunt current, particularly when the AEM electrolyzer operates with the addition of electrolyte (e.g., KOH). Increasing the efficiency of the stack requires minimizing the shunt current, which is affected by the concentration of KOH, the manifold design, and the number of cells in a stack. Lowering electrolyte concentration is instrumental for reducing the shunt current but can be detrimental for the electrolyzer performance. Engineering solutions, such as using an extremal manifold design can tremendously reduce the shunt current, improving electrolyte concentration and system performance. 

Bio: Yiheng Pang received a Ph.D. from the Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering department at UC Irvine in 2023. During his Ph.D., his research interests include PEM fuel cells, Li-ion batteries, novel heat pipes and application of machine learning for PEM fuel cells. Currently he is a simulation engineer, stack engineering at Envision Energy USA, where he mainly focuses on the design of PEM and AEM electrolysis stacks applied to industry. His expertise spans mechanical structure design, two-phase flow, heat transfer, and electrochemical simulations, with an emphasis on optimizing electrolyzer performance and efficiency for renewable energy applications.