Abstract
The environmental impacts of a 1 kW polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) system are quantitatively assessed by performing a Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) study. A PEMFC system produces electricity and heat simultaneously, so an appropriate allocation of associated inputs and outputs is performed between the electricity and heat produced. The environmental impacts of the PEMFC system on the impact categories such as global warming (GW), abiotic depletion (AD), acidification (AC), and eutrophication (EU) are assessed from the life cycle impact assessment. The impact indicator results of the impact assessment on these impact categories are obtained as $3.70E-01kg\;CO_2\;eq./kWh$, 1.86E-03 kg Sb eq./kWh, $4.09E-04kg\;SO_2\;eq./kWh$, and $1.88E-05kg\;PO_4{^{3-}}/kWh$, respectively. For all impact categories studied the most influential stage is the operation stage, which accounts for 98.8%, 98.7%, 70.3%, and 62.3% of the total impact on GW, AD, AC, and EU, respectively. For the impact categories of AD, AC, and EU, most of the environmental impacts during the operation stage is attributed to the production of city gas. However, for the impact category of GW, $CO_2$ emission from the reforming process of city gas is the main reason for the largest contribution of the operation stage to the total impact results.
