Hydrogen production based on bio-ethanol and solar energy for feeding PEM fuel cells

This work focuses on the preliminary study of an integrated hybrid system to produce hydrogen from bio-ethanol using solar energy as an auxiliary power source. It is analyzed for mobile applications, particularly, for a system that can use an on-board bio-ethanol processor. The solar power is used for promoting the reforming reaction for hydrogen production to feed a PEM fuel cell. This new concept increases the fuel economy because it avoids burning a part of bio-ethanol for producing the reforming reaction. A dynamic model of this integrated system with the control structure is presented. It allows to test an energy management strategy (EMS) to best satisfy the power demand of the fuel cell. The simulation results are carried out to illustrate the applicability and effectiveness of this new proposed hybrid system.