Nuclear Production of Hydrogen, Fourth Information Exchange ...

HIGH-TEMPERATURE STEAM ELECTROLYSIS FOR HYDROGEN PRODUCTION: FROM MATERIAL DEVELOPMENT TO STACK OPERATION
High-temperature steam electrolysis for hydrogen production:
From material development to stack operation
Julie Mougin, 1 Georges Gousseau, 1 Bertrand Morel, 1 Florence Lefebvre-Joud, 1
François Le Naour, 1 Florent Chauveau, 2 Jean-Claude Grenier 2
1LITEN, Hydrogen Technology Division, CEA Grenoble
2ICMCB-CNRS, Université de Bordeaux 1, Pessac, France
Abstract
High-temperature steam electrolysis (HTSE) coupled with nuclear energy is one of the most promising
options for hydrogen mass production. CEA (the French Atomic Energy Commission) is carrying out
research in this field, from materials, cells and components developments to stack design including
components and stack testing.
One stack design among those developed at CEA will be addressed in this paper. This stack design is
targeting high compactness, easy assembling and simple operation. The reliability of this design has
been demonstrated through two tests of three cells short stacks, cells being commercial 225 cm 2
electrolyte supported cells. Stacks have been operated in pure water vapour (no hydrogen introduced
on the cathode side) at 820°C. Hydrogen was produced at a flow rate of 7 mg/h/cm 2 for the two stacks.
The first stack was operated successfully for 170 hours. The test of the second one was extended up to
650 hours. Details about performance and durability of this second stack will be presented.
Besides these activities on stack design, CEA is carrying out researches on new materials and cells in
order to increase the cell and stack performances. For that purpose, alternative materials are studied,
and among them layered perovskites used as oxygen electrode. This research, carried out jointly by
ICMCB-CNRS and CEA highlighted the great potential of nickelates. It has been shown, on button cells
at this stage, that the nickelate formulated Nd 2 NiO 4+δ , represents a promising alternative to regular
LSM anode.* This material has been deposited on commercial half electrolyte supported cells, and three
times higher performance has been obtained when operated in HTSE mode at 800°C compared to an
identical commercial cell containing the same cathode and electrolyte but with a conventional LSM
oxygen electrode. Details about the performance of this new alternative electrode will be given.
Stack operation highlighted some events which are difficult to understand when multiple cells and
global signals are considered. On the contrary tests on single cells underline the potential of new
materials but are not representative of the stack environment. That is why some tests on the SRU
(single repeat unit) level are carried out. For such tests, an instrumented SRU has been designed in the
framework of the European project RelHy co-ordinated by CEA. First tests on this SRU have been
carried out. Thanks to the use of optimised cells and coatings developed by partners in the project,
high performance has been achieved. They will be presented in the paper.
* Patent CNRS-EDF (F) « Procédé et dispositif d’électrolyse de l’eau comprenant un matériau oxyde d’électrode
particulier », P. Stevens, C. Lalanne, J.M. Bassat, F. Mauvy, J.C. Grenier. French patent: FR 2872174 2005-12-30.
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