Life Cycle Assessment and Life Cycle Costing of a unitized regenerative fuel cell stack: a preliminary study

The unitized regenerative fuel cell (URFC) with a polymeric electrolyte
membrane (PEM) is an emerging energy storage system that could play an essential
role in decarbonizing Europe. Considering that the sustainability of PEM-URFC
devices has not been studied in depth, further analyses are needed. In this context,
this paper focuses on the central main component of a PEM-URFC, the stack, by
assessing its potential environmental and economic impacts. Thus, using primary
and secondary data, the life cycle assessment (LCA) and environmental life cycle costing (ELCC) methods are applied, following a cradle-to-gate approach. The
analysis shows that the main hotspots of the stack are linked to the membrane
electrode assembled (MEAs), which contribute to approximately 68% of the total
cost and more than 76% of all the environmental impact categories. These results are connected to the presence of materials characterized by high or medium critical
supplies (e.g. platinum for catalysts, etc.) and high costs due to the early stage of
market development. Furthermore, the study highlights the need to have more
reliable data on crucial and critical elements used in this type of device and more
life cycle thinking studies on URFC to update the current knowledge on hydrogen
technologies.