Abstract
This chapter presents and analyzes thermochemical cycles, which are promising methods of nuclear produced hydrogen at a large scale. The introduction presents the origins of concepts and a historical perspective on the technology development. In the first part, the most important aspects and fundamental concepts for cycle modeling and synthesis are introduced and detailed. The discussion proceeds from single-step thermochemical water-splitting processes, to two-step and multi-step processes, followed by a presentation of hybrid cycles. Relevant analysis methods are introduced in the context of each type of cycle presentation. These concepts include chemical equilibrium, chemical kinetics, reaction rate and yield, and others. Analysis of the practicality of chemical reactions is established based on their yield. A large number of reactions and thermochemical cycles are compiled, categorized, and discussed. In total, the chapter presents 122 thermochemical cycles, 25 hybrid cycles, and six special cycles (assisted with photonic or nuclear radiation).
The most important reactions, encountered in pure and hybrid cycles, are analyzed in detail. For example, both the Deacon reaction and H2SO4 decomposition methods are the most encountered oxygen-evolving reactions. Hydrogen iodide decomposition has a major role as a hydrogen-evolving reaction. The Bunsen reaction is also significant. In thermochemical cycle synthesis and assessment, it is important to account for the energy associated with chemical separation, chemical recycling, and material transport; this is explained and exemplified in the chapter. Another discussion involves cycle synthesis and a down selection process, a methodology that systematically leads to identification of the most promising cycles. A comparative assessment of cycles is presented and the use of exergy as a potential analysis tool is introduced. The final part of the chapter refers to three thermochemical plants which are considered as the most promising. These are plants based on the sulfur–iodine cycle, the hybrid sulfur cycle, and the hybrid copper–chlorine cycle. Some bench-scale or pilot plants exist for the sulfur–iodine and hybrid sulfur plants and they are in the course of development for the copper–chlorine cycle.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Abanades S, Charvin P, Flamant G, Neveu P (2006) Screening of water-splitting thermo-chemical cycles potentially attractive for hydrogen production by concentrated solar energy. Energy 31:2469–2486
Andress RJ, Martin LL (2010) On the synthesis of hydrogen production alternative thermochemical cycles with electrochemical steps. Int J Hydrogen Energy 35:958–965
Balta MT, Dincer I, Hepbasli A (2010) Potential methods for geothermal-based hydrogen production. Int J Hydrogen Energy 35:4949–4961
Bamberger CE (1978) Hydrogen production from water by thermochemical cycles; a 1977 update. Cryogenics 18:170–183
Beghi GE (1986) A decade of research on thermochemical hydrogen at the joint research centre, Ispra. Int J Hydrogen Energy 11:761–771
Bilgen E, Bilgen C (1982) Solar hydrogen production using two-step thermochemical cycles. Int J Hydrogen Energy 7:637–644
Brecher LE, Spewock S, Warde CJ (1977) The Westinghouse sulfur cycle for the thermochemical decomposition of water. Int J Hydrogen Energy 2:7–15
Brown LC, Besenbruch GE, Schultz KR, Showalter SK, Marshall AC, Pickard PS, Funk JF (2002) High efficiency generation of hydrogen fuels using thermochemical cycles and nuclear power. General Atomics Report GA-A24326
Carty RH, Cogner WL (1980) A heat penalty and economic analyses of the hybrid sulfuric acid process. Int J Hydrogen Energ 5:7–20
Carty RH, Mazumder MM, Schreider JD, Pangborn JB (1981) Thermochemical hydrogen production, vols. 1–4. Gas Research Institute, Chicago, IL, Report GRI-80/0023
Chao RE (1974) Thermochemical water decomposition process. Industrial Eng Chem, Process Res Develop 13:94–101
Chikazawa Y, Nakagiri T, Konomura M (2006) A system design study of fast breeder reactor hydrogen production plant using thermochemical and electrolytic hybrid process. Nuclear Technol 155:340–349
Dincer I, Balta MT (2011) Potential thermochemical and hybrid cycles for nuclear-based hydrogen production. Int J Energy Res 35:123–137
Dincer I, Zamfirescu C (2011) Sustainable energy systems and applications. Springer, New York
Dokyia M, Kotera Y (1976) Hybrid cycle with electrolysis using Cu-Cl system. Int J Hydrogen Energy 1:117–121
Dokyia M, Fukuda K, Kameyama T, Kotera Y, Asakura S (1977) The study of thermochemical hydrogen preparation. (II) Electrochemical hybrid cycle using sulphur-iodine system. Denki Kagaku (Electrochemistry, Jpn) 45:139–143
Dokyia M, Kameyama T, Fukuda K (1979) Thermochemical hydrogen preparation—Part V. A feasibility study of the sulphur iodine cycle. Int J Hydrogen Energy 4:267–277
Engineering Vilage (2012) http://www.engineeringvillage2.org. Accessed in March 2012
Ewan BCR, Allen RWK (2005) Assessing the Efficiency Limits for Hydrogen Production by Thermochemical Cycles. AIChE annual meeting, Cincinnati 30 October–4 November 2005, Paper 210c
Fishtik I, Datta R (2008) Systematic generation of thermochemical cycles for water splitting. Comput Chem Eng 32:1625–1634
Funk JE (2001) Thermochemical hydrogen production: past and present. Int J Hydrogen Energy 26:158–190
Funk JE, Reinstrom RM (1964) Final report energy depot electrolysis systems study. TID 20441 (EDR 3714), Vol. 2, Suppl. A.
Funk JE, Reinstrom RM (1966) Energy requirement in the production of hydrogen from water. Ind Eng Chem Process Des Develop 5:336–342
Gorensek MG, Summers WA (2009) Hybrid sulfur flowsheets using PEM electrolysis and a bayonet decomposition reactor. Int J Hydrogen Energy 34:4097–4114
Grimes PG (1966) Energy depot fuel production and utilization. SAE Transactions 74:65001
Kamita N, Ohta T, Asano N (1984) Hybridized hydrogen production system with Fe-I photochemical reaction in concentrated phosphoric acid. Int J Hydrogen Energy 9:563–570
Kasahara S, Kubo S, Hino R, Onuki K, Nomura M, Nakao S (2007) Flow-sheet study of the thermochemical water splitting iodine-sulfur process for effective hydrogen production. Int J Hydrogen Energy 32:489–496
Klein SA (2011) Engineering equation solver. http://www.fchart.com/assets/downloads/ees_manual.pdf. Accessed in March 2012
Knoche KF, Cremer H, Breywisch D, Hegels S, Steinborn G, Wüster G (1978) Experimental and theoretical investigation of thermochemical hydrogen production. Int J Hydrogen Energy 3:209–216
Lede J, Lapicque F, Villermaux J, Gales B, Ounalli A, Baumard JF, Anthony AM (1982) Production of hydrogen by direct thermal decomposition of water: preliminary investigations. Int J Hydrogen Energy 7:939–950
Lewis MA, Masin JG, O’HAre PA (2009) Evaluation of alternative themochemical cycles, Part I: the methodology. Int J Hydrogen Energ 34:4115–4124
Lewis MA, Masin JG (2009) The evaluation of alternative thermochemical cycles – Part II: The down-selection process. Int J Hydrogen Energy 34:4125–4135
Lu PWT, Garcia ER, Ammon RL (1981) Recent developments in the technology of sulfur dioxide depolarized electrolysis. J Appl Electrochem 11:347–355
Marin GD, Wang Z, Naterer GF, Gabriel K (2011) Byproducts and reaction pathways for integration of the CueCl cycle of hydrogen production. Int J Hydrogen Energy 36:13414–13424
McQuillan BW, Brown LC, Besenbruch GE, Tolman R, Cramer T, Russ BE, Vermillion BA, Earl B, Hsieh H-T, Chen Y, Kwan K, Diver R, Siegal N, Weimer A, Perkins C, Lewandowski A (2010) High efficiency generation of hydrogen fuels using solar thermal-chemical splitting of water. General Atomics Project 3022
Nakamura T (1977) Hydrogen production from water utilising solar heat at high temperatures. Solar Energy 19:467–475
Naterer GF, Suppiah S, Stolberg L, Lewis M, Ferrandon M, Wang Z, Dincer I, Gabriel K, Rosen MA, Secnik E, Easton EB, Trevani L, Pioro I, Tremaine P, Lvov S, Jiang J, Rizvi G, Ikeda BM, Luf L, Kaye M, Smith WR, Mostaghimi J, Spekkens P, Fowler M, Avsec J (2011a) Clean hydrogen production with the Cu-Cl cycle – Progress of international consortium, I: Experimental unit operations. Int J Hydrogen Energy 36:15472–15485
Naterer GF, Suppiah S, Stolberg L, Lewis M, Ferrandon M, Wang Z, Dincer I, Gabriel K, Rosen MA, Secnik E, Easton EB, Trevani L, Pioro I, Tremaine P, Lvov S, Jiang J, Rizvi G, Ikeda BM, Luf L, Kaye M, Smith WR, Mostaghimi J, Spekkens P, Fowler M, Avsec J (2011b) Clean hydrogen production with the Cu-Cl cycle – Progress of international consortium, II: Simulations, thermochemical data and materials. Int J Hydrogen Energy 36:15486–15501
Nomura M, Nakao S, Okuda H, Fujiwara S, Kasahara S, Ikenoya K, Kubo S, Onuki K (2004) Development of an electrochemical cell for efficient hydrogen production through the IS process. AIChE J 50:1991–1998
Ohta T, Asakura S, Yamaguchi M, Kamiya N, Gotoh H, Otagawa T (1976) Photochemical and thermoelectric utilisation of solar energy in a hybrid water splitting system. Int J Hydrogen Energy 1:113–116
Perret R (2011) Solar thermochemical hydrogen production. Thermochemical cycle selection and investment priority. Sandia National Laboratory, Report 3622
Rosen MA (2008) Exergy analysis of hydrogen production by thermochemical water decomposition using the Ispra Mark-10 Cycle. Int J Hydrogen Energy 33:6921–6933
Rosen MA (2010) Advances in hydrogen production by thermochemical water decomposition: A review. Energy 35:1068–1076
Rosen MA, Scott DS (1992) Exergy analysis of hydrogen production from heat and water by electrolysis. Int J Hydrogen Energy 17:199–204
Sakurai M, Bilgen E, Tsutsumi A, Yoshida K (1996) Adiabatic UT-3 thermochemical process for hydrogen production. Int J Hydrogen Energy 21:865–870
Sato S (1979) Thermochemical hydrogen production. In: Otha T (ed) Solar-hydrogen energy systems. Pergamon, New York
Savage RL, Blank L, Cady T, Cox K, Murray R, Dee Williams R (1973) A hydrogen energy carrier. Systems Design Institute, NASA Grant NGT 44-005-114
Sivasubramanian P, Ramasamy RP, Freire FJ, Holland CE, Weidner JW (2007) Electrochemical hydrogen production from thermochemical cycles using a proton exchange membrane electrolyzer. Int J Hydrogen Energ 32:463–468
Verfonden K (2007) Nuclear energy for hydrogen production. Writings of Research Center Jülich, Energy Technology, Volume 58, Research Center Jülich GmbH: Jülich(Germany). http://juwel.fz-juelich.de:8080/dspace/bitstream/2128/2518/1/Energietechnik_58.pdf. Accessed in March 2012
Von Federsdorff CG (1974) Non-fossil fuel process for production of hydrogen and oxygen. US Patent 3,802,993
Williams LO (1980) Hydrogen power. An Introduction to hydrogen energy and its applications. Pergamon, New York
Wang ZL, Naterer GF, Gabriel KS, Gravelsins R, Daggupati V (2010) Comparison of sulfur-iodine and copper-chlorine thermochemical hydrogen production cycles. Int J Hydrogen Energy 35:4820–4830
Yan XL, Hino R (2011) Nuclear hydrogen production. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Zamfirescu C, Naterer GF, Dincer I (2010) Novel CuCl vapor compression heat pump integrated with a thermochemical water splitting cycle. Thermochimica Acta 512:40–48
Zamfirescu C, Naterer GF, Dincer I (2012) Solar light-based hydrogen production systems. In: Anwar S (eds) Encyclopedia of energy engineering and technology. Taylor Francis http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1081/E-EEE-120047413. Accessed in February 2013
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Nomenclature
Nomenclature
- \( \it{A} \) :
-
Pre-exponential factor
- \( c \) :
-
Molar concentration, kmol/m3
- \( \mathrm{ ex} \) :
-
Specific molar exergy, kJ/mol
- Ex:
-
Exergy, kJ
- \( G \) :
-
Molar Gibbs free energy, kJ/mol
- H :
-
Molar enthalpy, kJ/mol
- HHV:
-
Molar based higher heating value, kJ/mol
- IP:
-
Improvement potential, kJ
- \( \it k \) :
-
Rate constant, \( {{\mathrm{ s}}^{-1 }} \)
- \( {K_{\mathrm{ eq}}} \) :
-
Equilibrium constant
- m :
-
Mass, kg
- n :
-
Number of moles
- \( \dot{n} \) :
-
Molar flow rate, mol/s
- \( P \) :
-
Pressure, Pa
- \( Q \) :
-
Heat flux, kJ
- \( \dot{Q} \) :
-
Heat flux, kW
- r :
-
Recycling ratio
- \( R \) :
-
Universal gas constant, J/mol K
- \( S \) :
-
Molar entropy, kJ/mol K
- SI:
-
Sustainability index
- \( T \) :
-
Temperature, K
- \( \it{v} \) :
-
Molar volume, m3/kmol
- W :
-
Work, kJ
- \( y \) :
-
Molar fraction
5.1.1 Greek Letters
- \( \eta \) :
-
Energy efficiency
- \( \mu \) :
-
Chemical potential, kJ/mol
- \( \psi \) :
-
Exergy efficiency
- \( \xi \) :
-
Extent of reaction
5.1.2 Subscripts
- 0:
-
Reference state
- act:
-
Activation
- aux:
-
Auxiliary
- b:
-
Backward
- d:
-
Destruction
- el:
-
Electric
- elchem:
-
Electrochemical
- eq:
-
Equivalent
- f:
-
Forward, formation
- gen:
-
Generation
- in:
-
Inlet, input
- loss:
-
Losses
- out:
-
Output
- P:
-
Products
- R:
-
Reactants
- sep:
-
Separation
- tresh:
-
Threshold
5.1.3 Superscripts
- 0:
-
Reference state
- circ:
-
Circulation
- ch:
-
Chemical
- Q:
-
Heat
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag London
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Naterer, G.F., Dincer, I., Zamfirescu, C. (2013). Thermochemical Water-Splitting Cycles. In: Hydrogen Production from Nuclear Energy., vol 8. Springer, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4938-5_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-4938-5_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, London
Print ISBN: 978-1-4471-4937-8
Online ISBN: 978-1-4471-4938-5
eBook Packages: EnergyEnergy (R0)