Design and multi-objective optimization of co-production system of hydrogen and electricity via integration of methanol steam reforming, fuel cell and electrochemical hydrogen pump

In this work, a distributed co-production system of electricity and hydrogen based on electrochemical hydrogen pump (EHP) enhancement was proposed to simultaneously meet user electricity and hydrogen demands. Methanol reformate gas was used to generate power through fuel cells firstly, and then entered EHP to produce pressurized hydrogen, which improving the utilization value of hydrogen, and realizing cascade utilization of hydrogen with different concentrations. Subsequently, a total of 46 datasets were designed based on the Box-Behnken Design, and a response surface surrogate model with 4 responses, 5 factors, and 3 levels was established for the analysis of multi-parameter interaction of the entire system. Furtherly, the multi-objective optimization of system net power, annual hydrogen production, levelized cost of electricity, and hydrogen was carried out using the NSGA-II, which appropriate solution under different application scenarios were selected by LINMAP and TOPSIS methods, which showed that the novel co-production system achieved an levelized cost of electricity and hydrogen are 0.1–0.19 $/kW∙h and 2.2–8.15 $/kgH₂, offering a reliable solution for processes enhancing in future distributed energy systems.