A polymer-electrolyte fuel cell model that incorporates the effects of hydrogen sulfide contaminant on performance is developed. The model is transient, fully two-phase and non-isothermal and includes a complex kinetic mechanism to describe the electrode reactions. Comparisons between the simulation results and data in the literature demonstrate that known trends are well Captured. The effects of temperature and relative humidity variations in the anode stream are investigated, with further comparisons to experimental data and a proposed explanation for the nonlinear behaviour observed in the experiments of Mohtadi et al. [R. Mohatadi, W.-K. Lee, J. van Zee, Appl. Catal. B 56 (2005) 37-42)]. Extensions to the model and future work are discussed. (c) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.