Electrolysis of water in PEM based system is a single step green hydrogen production process while integrated with renewable energy resources. However, this energy-intensive process makes the hydrogen production cost high and it is pave way for adopting the grey hydrogen or blue hydrogen production route as an intermediate stage for the transition from fossil fuel to hydrogen fuel economy. In this context PEM based Electrochemical Methanol Reformer (ECMR) technology has unique advantages such as low electrical energy consumption than water electrolysis and it can be easily integrated with renewable energy sources. Further, it can be operated at near ambient temperature and doesn’t require any hydrogen purification system, unlike a chemical reformer. Currently, PEM based water electrolyzer is producing pressurized hydrogen, which will eliminate the need for an external hydrogen compressor for its storage. Further, the influence of operating parameters on the operation of PEM water electrolyser under pressurised conditions is studied in the literature. However, this aspect of the study is not well studied and not much literature is available on PEM based ECMR systems. The present work, it is aimed to systematically study the effect of various operating parameters on the performance of ECMR under pressurised operation conditions and the obtained results are discussed. It shows the operation of ECMR under pressurised condition are promising and it will eliminate the need for an external H2 compressor system for hydrogen storage like PEM based water electrolyzer.
Keywords: Hydrogen, PEM based Electrochemical reformer, pressurised hydrogen