• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.55 no.11
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• pp.4287-4294
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• 2023

In order to meet the energy demand, energy production must be done continuously. Hydrogen seems to be the best alternative for this energy production, because it is both an environmentally friendly and renewable energy source. In this study, the hydrogen fuel production of the peaceful nuclear explosives (PACER) fusion blanket as the energy source integrated with Fe-Cl thermochemical water splitting cycle have been investigated. Firstly, neutronic analyzes of the PACER fusion blanket were performed. Necessary neutronic studies were performed in the Monte Carlo calculation method. Molten salt fuel has been considered mole-fractions of heavy metal salt (ThF₄, UF₄ and ThF₄+UF₄) by 2, 6 and 12 mol. % with Flibe as the main constituent. Secondly, potential of the hydrogen fuel production as a result of the neutronic evaluations of the PACER fusion blanket integrated with Fe-Cl thermochemical cycle have been performed. In these calculations, tritium breeding (TBR), energy multiplication factor (M), thermal power ratio (1 - 𝜓), total thermal power (P_hpf) and mass flow rate of hydrogen (ṁ_H2) have been computed. As a results, the amount of the hydrogen production (ṁ_H2) have been obtained in the range of 232.24x10⁶ kg/year and 345.79 x10⁶ kg/year for the all mole-fractions of heavy metal salts using in the blanket.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.37 no.5
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• pp.27-37
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• 2017

In this study, an artificial solar simulator composed of a 2.5 kW Xe-Arc lamp and mirror reflector was used to carry out the solar thermal two step thermochemical water decomposition cycle which can produce high efficiency continuous hydrogen production. Through various operating conditions, the change of hydrogen production due to the possibility of a dual-zone reactor and heat recovery were experimentally analyzed. Based on the reaction temperature of Thermal-Reduction step and Water-Decomposition step at $1,400^{\circ}C$ and $1,000^{\circ}C$ respectively, the hydrogen production decreased by 23.2% under the power off condition, and as a result of experiments using heat recovery technology, the hydrogen production increased by 33.8%. Therefore, when a thermochemical two-step water decomposition cycle is conducted using a dual-zone reactor with heat recovery, it is expected that the cycle can be operated twice over a certain period of time and the hydrogen production amount is increased by at least 53.5% compared to a single reactor.

• Korean Chemical Engineering Research
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• v.43 no.1
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• pp.66-70
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• 2005

For the application in HI decomposition reaction of thermochemical water-splitting IS process, the carbonized membranes using the polymer material (polyimide) were prepared, and SiC membrane was also prepared by SiO treatment on those carbonized membranes. The weight change by the carbonation of polyimide was about 50%, and the weight decreased with an increase of carbonation temperature. The gas permeance ($H_2$ or $N_2$) of carbonized membrane decreased with an increase of carbonation temperature led to the pore closing. The gas permeance ($H_2$ or $N_2$) of SiC membrane increased with an increase of SiO treatment concentration, and the gas permeation mechanism was changed from the activiation energy flow to Knudsen flow.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.19 no.6
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• pp.505-513
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• 2008

The two-step thermochemical cycle was examined on the $CeO_2$, YSZ, and $ZrO_2$-supported $NiFe_2O_4$ to investigate the effects of support material addition. The supported $NiFe_2O_4$ was prepared by the aerial oxidation method. Thermal reduction was conducted at 1573K and 1523K while water-splitting was carried out at 1073K. Supporting $NiFe_2O_4$ on $CeO_2$, YSZ and $ZrO_2$ alleviated the high-temperature sintering of iron-oxide. As a result, the supported $NiFe_2O_4$ exhibited greater reactivity and repeatability in the water-splitting cycle as compared to the unsupported $NiFe_2O_4$. Especially, $ZrO_2$-supported $NiFe_2O_4$ showed better sintering inhibition effect than other supporting materials, but hydrogen production amount was decreased as cycle repeated. In case of $CeO_2$-supported $NiFe_2O_4$, improvement of hydrogen production was found when the thermal reduction was conducted at 1573K. It was deduced that redox reaction of $CeO_2$ activated above 1573K.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.15 no.3
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• pp.201-207
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• 2004

Redox characteristics of metal oxide for hydrogen production by thermochemical water-splitting were investigated. $CuFe_2O_4$ as a redox pair that had a different molar ratio of Cu and Fe were prepared by co-precipitation method. Hydrogen production consisted of water-splitting step and thermal reduction step was performed below 1200K. Redox characteristics of Cu-ferrites were studied using the thermal gravimetric analysis technique. Also, structure change of Cu-ferrite during thermal reduction was investigated using the high temperature controlled XRD. In results, oxygen release of Cu-ferrite during the thermal reduction was initiated at oxygen site combined with Cu. Consequently, oxygen release amount of Cu-ferrite was increased with increase of Cu molar ratio of Cu-ferrite. It was found that thermal reduction of Cu-ferrite was begun at $875^\circ{C}$. It was confirmed that structure of Cu-ferrite was changed to metal and cation excess metal oxide during the thermal reduction step.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.15 no.2 s.46
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• pp.107-117
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• 2006

The status of water splitting thermochemical cycle for hydrogen production was reviewed in this article. Mass production of hydrogen could be possible using the thermochemical process which is similar to the concept of conventional chemical reaction system if the high temperature heat source is available. The mediators (chemicals and reagents) should be used to split chemically stable water, and should be recycled in a closed cycle in order to be environmentally acceptable. Though there is no process to reach commercial stage, IS cycle, two-step cycles based on metallic oxide such as ZnO/Zn, $Fe_3O_4/FeO$ and the associated cycles are attracted due to their possibilities of application. Development of materials for high temperature and/or corrosive conditions during thermochemical process is still important topic in some thermochemical processes.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.15 no.1
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• pp.32-38
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• 2004

Thermal behaviors of $(Cu_{0.5}Mn_{0.5})Fe_2O_4$, prepared by a solid method, were investigated for $H_2$ production by a thermochemical cycle. The thermal reduction of $(Cu_{0.5}Mn_{0.5})Fe_2O_4$ started from $300^\circ{C}$ and the weight loss was 1.3 wt% up to 1200. XRD shows the prepared ferrite has the spinel structure with a lattice constant of $8.414{\AA}$ and changed to the oxygen deficient structure by thermal reduction. Oxygen and hydrogen can be separately produced by the cycles of thermal reduction and water oxidation of the oxygen deficient ferrite.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.353-361
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• 2006

As one of the thermochemical water splitting hydrogen production cycles, which could be operated at the lower temperature below 1200 K, we investigated the feasibility of the cyclic operation of Ispra Mark 2 cycle with the addition of $ZrO_2$. The cycle is theoretically composed of three reaction steps; (1) 1st step($2MnO_2{\rightarrow}Mn_2O_3+0.5O_2$), (2) 2nd step($Mn_2O_3+4NaOH{\rightarrow}2Na_2O{\cdot}MnO_2+H_2+H_2O$) and (3) 3rd step($2Na_2O{\cdot}MnO_2H_2O{\rightarrow}4NaOH+2MnO_2$). From the TPR tests, the temperature ranges for $O_2$ production in 1st step and $H_2$ production in 2nd step were $550{\sim}750^{\circ}C$ and $650{\sim}750^{\circ}C$, respectively. In $MnO_2/Mn_2O_3/NaOH$ system, the formation of molten products due to the reaction between manganese oxides and NaOH were greatly decreased with the addition of $ZrO_2$. In addition, the results of a cyclic test were discussed with the viewpoint of $H_2$ production amounts and the feasibility of the process improvement.

• Nuclear Engineering and Technology
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• v.53 no.6
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• pp.2066-2073
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• 2021

The use of nuclear reactors is a large studied possible solution for thermochemical water splitting cycles. Nevertheless, there are several problems that have to be solved. One of them is to increase the efficiency of the cycles. Hence, in this paper, a thermal energy optimization of a Sulfur-Iodine nuclear hydrogen production cycle was performed by means a heuristic method with the aim of minimizing the energy targets of the heat exchanger network at different minimum temperature differences. With this method, four different heat exchanger networks are proposed. A reduction of the energy requirements for cooling ranges between 58.9-59.8% and 52.6-53.3% heating, compared to the reference design with no heat exchanger network. With this reduction, the thermal efficiency of the cycle increased in about 10% in average compared to the reference efficiency. This improves the use of thermal energy of the cycle.

• Transactions of the Korean hydrogen and new energy society
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.219-229
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• 2001

Hydrogen production by a 2-step water-splitting thermochemical cycle using metal oxides (ferrites) redox pairs and $CH_4$ have been studied in this experiment. The ferrites were reacted with $CH_4$ at $700{\sim}800^{\circ}C$ to produce CO, $H_2$ and various reduced phases (reduction step); these were then reoxidized with water vapor to generate $H_2$ in water-splitting step (oxidation step) at $600{\sim}700^{\circ}C$. The reduced ferrites, Ni-FeO and Ni-Fe alloy showed respectively different reactivity for $H_2$ formation from $H_2O$. In reduction reaction at $800^{\circ}C$, carbon was deposited on surface of Ni-ferrite due to $CH_4$ decomposition. This reduced phase containing carbon, which was taken quite different feature from other phase, produced $H_2$, CO, $CO_2$ by reacting with $H_2O$ at $600^{\circ}C$. The amount of $H_2$ evolved using reduced phase containing carbon was much higher than that of other phase.