H2GO - Stack2P

Goal in this research cluster "H2GO" is to develop a high rate scale production for fuel cell components. Especially with regards to establish hydrogen technologies as an alternative to battery electric vehicles. Another important point is that with regards to sustainability and circular economy the topics recycling and demounting are regarded from the beginning, to regain important materials and to reuse components after a refurbishment.

In the project "H2GO-Stack2P" the Demounting process for fuel cell stacks are in the focus of research. For this purpose a full scale automated demounting platform will be developed and built in the Open Hybrid LabFactory. Goal is to regain the "Membrane electrodes assembly" (MEA), which is using platinum as catalyst and is one of the cost drivers o fuel cells.

The first step will be the demounting of the housing of fuel cell stacks. The platform will recognize the housing and mount the necessary tooling to remove the locks and bolts. The stack will be removed automatically from the housing and demounted into its components to get to the MEA. All demounted components will be separated to reintroduce it either in the material-recycling process or to reuse the parts again.

One of the major aspects of this project are joining technologies and rules for future fuel cells to for its design, that those are simpler to reuse, refurbish or recycle that the production is more sustainable.

Main focuses on the project:

• Disassembly-friendly design
• Automated demounting of fuel cell components
• Regaining of components for reuse

Project duration: 01.05.2022 - 31.12.2025

Project partners: Fraunhofer IWU, Fraunhofer IFAM, Fraunhofer IKTS, Fraunhofer IST