The materials obtained from the previous steps can be used for recycling into fuel cell products (closed loop) especially into MEA or to the secondary raw materials market (open loop).

Closed Loop recycling

The materials are further processed for incorporation into PEMFC and SOFC, for evaluation of performance of devices with recycled content vs standard cells. The research centers (CEA and PoliTo) will cooperate closely with the fuel cell manufacturers (EKPO and Elcogen) for simulating standard production procedures. The products with the highest recycled content will be evaluated with industry-accepted performance testing protocols.

Challenges

• Integration of recycled material (Pt/C catalyst synthetized from recycled Pt salt, ionomer solution) into MEA for PEMFC to reach at least 80% of performance in single cell compared to MEA manufactured with commercial material and validation into MEA at industrial design in stack operation.
• Integration of recycled material (NiO and YSZ) in single SOFCs to reach the same performance in single cell as commercial SOFC.

Open Loop Recycling

Some of the recycled materials might be of quality suitable for other applications. The existing market for these critical or valuable materials from secondary sources will be explored to maximise their value.

Challenges

• Comparison of materials using recycling industry standards.