HYDROGEN PRODUCTION USING THE Cu-Cl THERMOCHEMICAL CYCLE IN A ZERO EMISSIONS COAL-TO-LIQUIDS PLANT
Open Access
- Author:
- Myers, Kaitlin Elizabeth
- Area of Honors:
- Energy Engineering
- Degree:
- Bachelor of Science
- Document Type:
- Thesis
- Thesis Supervisors:
- Dr. Harold Harris Schobert, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Harold Harris Schobert, Thesis Supervisor
Dr. Sarma V Pisupati, Thesis Honors Advisor - Keywords:
- coal-to-liquids
hydrogen production - Abstract:
- Coal-to-liquids has the potential to change the nation’s energy economy due to its use of coal, a domestic resource. What is even more exciting is that coal-to-liquids has the potential to release zero emissions of CO2. This possibility is attractive, especially with the reality of climate change and the ever-increasing pressure to produce environmentally friendly technologies, processes, and products in all sectors. This zero-emission coal-to-liquids concept was developed at Penn State. A start-up company, CoalStar, picked up this idea and is in the early planning stages of actually implementing such a plant. A major concern for CoalStar is the production of hydrogen used for refining purposes in the plant. They are considering using an electrolyzer exclusively powered by clean electricity. Due to its required low electricity input as compared to other thermochemical cycles, the Cu-Cl thermochemical cycle has the potential to fill the need for electrolytically produced hydrogen in this coal-to-liquids plant. Much research is currently being performed on this cycle; this thesis examines a few parameters of the system and their effects on hydrogen production rate. These parameters are: the type of membrane used, the HCl concentration of the anolyte, and membrane degradation due to time. Furthermore, the actual feasibility of implementing such a cycle into CoalStar’s hypothetical plant is examined.