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.