Petroleum Refinery Engineering ›› 2025, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (5): 29-33.

• COMPUTER APPLICATION • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Steady-state numerical simulation study of alkaline water electrolyzer

Liu Zhongxuan   

  1. Sinopec Engineering Incorporation, Beijing 100101
  • Online:2025-05-15 Published:2025-05-22

碱性水电解槽的稳态数值模拟研究

刘仲玄   

  1. 中国石化工程建设有限公司，北京市 100101
  • 作者简介:刘仲玄，工程师，博士，2022 年毕业于挪威科技大学能源与系统工程专业，主要研究方向为制氢及绿甲醇。联系电话：010-84875209，E-mail：liuzhongxuan.sei@ sinopec.com。

PDF

Abstract:

A steady-state simulation mathematical model of alkaline water electrolyzer based on material balance and energy balance is established. The simulation results are in good agreement with the experimental results, verifying the reliability of the model. The effects of current density, operating temperature, and operating pressure on the performance of the electrolyzer are systematically studied. The results indicate that the activation overpotential accounts for a relatively large proportion in the total voltage loss; as the current density increases, the proportion of ohmic overpotential in the total voltage loss increases; when increasing the operating pressure, the cell voltage and reversible voltage increase, while the activation overpotential and ohmic overpotential decrease; low-pressure and high-temperature operating conditions are beneficial for reducing the energy consumption of the electrolyzer; increasing the current density leads to higher hydrogen production rate and the direct-current unit energy consumption of the electrolyzer, but lower energy efficiency. Additionally, an energy balance model for the electrolyzer is built, which can be used to predict the temperature rise of circulating liquid in the electrolyzer.

Key words: alkaline water electrolyzer, reversible voltage, activation overpotential, ohmic overpotential, hydrogen production rate, energy balance, direct-current unit energy consumption, energy efficiency

摘要：

建立了基于物料平衡和能量平衡的碱性水电解槽稳态模拟数学模型，将模拟结果与实验结果进行了比较，发现模拟结果与实验结果吻合良好，验证了该模型的可靠性。系统研究了电流密度、操作温度和操作压力等参数对电解槽性能的影响规律。研究结果表明：活化过电势在总电压损失中占比较大；随着电流密度的增大，欧姆过电势在总电压损失中占比增大；提高操作压力，电解槽电压和可逆电压随之增大，活化过电势和欧姆过电势随之减小；低压且高温的操作条件有利于降低电解槽能耗；增大电流密度，电解槽产氢速率及直流单位能耗增大，能效降低。此外，还构建了电解槽能量平衡模型，可用于预测电解槽循环液温升情况。

关键词: 碱性水电解槽, 可逆电压, 活化过电势, 欧姆过电势, 氢气产率, 能量平衡, 直流单位能耗, 能效