Hydrogen production with a novel coaxial cylindrical electrolyser: A CFD study

This study introduces a unique coaxial cylindrical electrodes design for Alkaline Water Electrolyzers (AWEs) that is analyzed to show possible enhancement on traditional stacked plates design. It investigates the performance of the proposed coaxial AWE for enhanced hydrogen production. Through comprehensive computational simulations, key performance indicators, such as current density and hydrogen volume fraction were analyzed across various operating parameters. The results of this study indicate that the production rate of hydrogen achieves its highest level at a volume percentage of 3.4%. This rate is significantly influenced by the concentration of the electrolyte, the distance between the cathode and anode, and, to a lesser degree, the porosity of the separator. Notably, the optimized conditions demonstrated a promising increase in current densities reaching 1,000 mA/cm2 at operating voltage of 2 V, showcasing the potential for developing more efficient and cost-effective AWE systems. This study contributes valuable insights into the design and operational improvements needed for the advancement of large-scale hydrogen production technologies.