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Breakthrough achieved in research on producing hydrogen for fuel cells using PSA in one step from coke oven gas at Southwest Chemical Engineering Design Institute Author/Source: Southwest Chemical Engineering Design Institute Co., Ltd. Date: 2020-09-11 Clicks: 11. Recently, the research team working on the project to produce hydrogen for fuel cells from coke oven gas via PSA simulation testing (hereinafter referred to as the “research team”) reported a breakthrough in their efforts to utilize coke oven gas to generate fuel cell hydrogen through pressure swing adsorption in one step. Through extensive screening of adsorbents in the preliminary stages, the research team selected a new type of molecular sieve adsorbent. By conducting single-column experiments, they optimized the formulation techniques for composite bed adsorbents as well as the negative-pressure flushing desorption technique. The results showed that the content of conventional impurities in the produced hydrogen (CO, CO2, CH4, and N2) was lower than the standards specified in the **Standard for Fuel Hydrogen Used in Proton Exchange Membrane Fuel Cell Vehicles (GB/T37244-2018)**. Moreover, compared with traditional adsorbent formulations, this approach led to a significant increase in both the amount of feed gas that could be processed and the yield of hydrogen produced. Fuel cells can be classified according to the type of electrolyte they use into: proton exchange membrane fuel cells (hereafter PEMFC), alkaline fuel cells (AFC), phosphoric acid fuel cells (PAFC), molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC), and solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). Among them, proton exchange membrane fuel cells (PEMFC) that use hydrogen as a reducing agent can achieve an energy conversion efficiency of over 60%; their actual operational efficiency is roughly twice that of conventional internal combustion engines, and they also offer excellent environmental benefits. In addition, PEMFCs possess outstanding advantages such as high specific power, low operating temperature, simple structure, small size, no electrolyte loss, and long service life. As a result, they are attracting increasing attention and are regarded as an energy conversion technology and device of epoch-making significance in the energy revolution, following internal combustion engines. The hydrogen used in PEMFCs mainly comes from five sources: the purification and recovery of H2 from industrial hydrogen-containing exhaust gases, hydrogen production by water electrolysis, hydrogen production through biological methods, and hydrogen production from fossil fuels (natural gas, light oil, coal, etc.). This project recovers hydrogen from coke oven gas using the PSA method, purifies it to meet the standards for hydrogen used in fuel cells, thereby enabling the high-value utilization of industrial waste gases.