The global progress in pushing the clean energy initiatives can be seen both as a challenge and opportunity for energy companies. Inclusion of "Hydrogen" as a value-added product from the refineries and use of fuel cells in the energy mix of an oil company, presents such an opportunity. However, the refinery hydrogen is not a fuel cell grade due to inherent impurities like carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide and methane are associated owing to the hydrocarbon source of production. In this study, a Low-temperature PEM fuel cell stack with 30 cells and active area of 50 cm(2) was optimized on neat hydrogen in terms of its operating parameters including temperature, pressure and relative humidity. Upon optimization, the contamination tests were performed by doping various concentrations contaminants for simulating the refinery hydrogen composition. The results of performance evaluation with neat hydrogen and the impact of different contaminants are discussed in this study. (C) 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.