Modelling and control of an alkaline water electrolysis process

In this research, an alkaline water electrolysis process is modelled. The electrochemical electrolysis is carried out in an electrolyzer composed of 12 series-connected steel cells with a solution 30% wt of potassium hydroxide. The electrolysis process model was developed using a nonlinear identification technique based on the Hammerstein structure. This structure consists of a nonlinear static block and a linear dynamic block. In this work, the nonlinear static function is modelled by a polynomial approximation equation, and the linear dynamic is modelled using the ARX structure. To control the current feed to the electrolyzer an unconstraint predictive controller was implemented, once the unconstrained MPC was simulated, some restrictions are proposed to design a constrained MPC (CMPC). The CMPC aim is to reduce the electrolyzer's energy consumption (power supply current). Simulation results showed the advantages of using the CMPC since the energy (current) overshoots are avoided.