Hydrogen Generation and Compression using Solid Oxide Membrane

Development of component and subsystem technologies for H2 production for planetary mission requirements is important to obtain sustainable, energy-efficient fuel production from planetary water and possible organic materials. Our development effort is intended to strongly emphasize significant overall efficiencies in component and system size, weight, and energy consumption and utilization for ISRU applications. Precision Combustion, Inc. (PCI) has been developing a new type of solid oxide membrane/cell that allows simultaneous H2 generation from planetary resources and compression at an intermediate-temperature based on a novel membrane architecture and materials, and processing techniques. Proof of concept testing of the new membrane/cell architecture indicated potential to be to be lightweight and presents several advantages over state of the art, including high gravimetric and volumetric power density, simplified solid oxide stack structure, rapid thermal cycle tolerance for fast start-up and shutdown, and more redox tolerant. Additionally, it is capable of operating in fuel cell mode for power generation with high fuel utilization, expected to realize high round trip efficiency. The goal is to generate high-purity H2 via electrolysis at a low energy consumption, and with simultaneous H2 compression to very high pressures. This avoids the need for a mechanical pump for compression, sweep gases, or gas separators essential for conventional solid oxide membranes. In this paper, we will present results from preliminary performance characterization of the lab-scale solid oxide membrane in both fuel cell and electrolysis mode. Performance evaluation under pressurized conditions will also be presented.