Hydrogen production through steam electrolysis

Hydrogen production using solid oxide electrolyser cells (SOECs) has attracted increasing research attention as it may provide a cost-effective and green route to hydrogen generation especially when coupled to a source of renewable or nuclear energy. Developing control strategies for the SOEC stack to respond to changes or disturbances that may occur during its operation is necessary to support the development and demonstration of this technology. A one-dimensional (1D) dynamic model of a planar SOEC stack developed at Imperial College has been employed to study optimal control strategies. In this paper, some preliminary results are reported for two control strategies during a change of operating regime - maximizing hydrogen production and minimizing electrical energy consumption. The results offer optimal control policies for the chosen situations and provide a good starting point for identifying the optimal control strategy in practical operation. © 2012 Elsevier B.V.