H3+ Hydrogen Trigeneration System

The overall objective of H3+ is the development and construction of a proof-of-concept 10 kWe HT-PEM fuel cell system power-range for tri-generation, i.e. for simultaneous heating, cooling and generation of electric power. The "+" in H3+ shall indicate that a novel system architecture shall be developed cogenerating hydrogen additionally which - after purification - is then supplied locally for use in fuel cell vehicles in the transportation and material handling. Thus a distributed power generation system will be transformed beyond the present scheme into one which is also capable to supply hydrogen. This can help to overcome the hydrogen delivery/infrastructure issue which is a true problem in the adoption of hydrogen-powered fuel cell vehicles: hydrogen can be produced locally at or near filling stations, along with power and heat for thermal applications. The final hydrogen cost is obviously the main issue, but the core idea of the H3+ project, and in general adopted in the CHHP concept, consist in the hydrogen recovering from HT-PEFC exhausts (performing it at a low Utilization Factor increasing efficiency and life time). Aware of the hydrogen cost issue, in the framework of the H3+ project a in-depth cost analysis strongly linked to the scientific activities will be carried out. This on top of the tri-generation of power, heating and cooling yields four high-value revenue streams resulting in a great commercial potential.