IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/appene/v86y2009i2p155-162.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Experimental investigation of hydrogen production integrated methanol steam reforming with middle-temperature solar thermal energy

Author

Listed:
  • Liu, Qibin
  • Hong, Hui
  • Yuan, Jianli
  • Jin, Hongguang
  • Cai, Ruixian

Abstract

Developing a hydrogen production method that utilizes solar thermal energy in an effective manner is a great challenge. In this paper we propose a new approach to solar hydrogen production with the integration of methanol steam reforming and middle-temperature solar thermal energy. An experiment on hydrogen production is conducted using a 5-kW solar reactor at 150-300 °C under atmosphere pressure. The 5-kW solar receiver/reactor is fabricated and positioned along the focal line of one-tracking parabolic trough concentrator. As a result, the chemical conversion of methanol can reach levels higher than 90%, and the volumetric concentration of hydrogen in the gas products can account for 66-74% above the solar flux of 580 W/m2. The obtained maximum hydrogen yield per mole of methanol is 2.65-2.90 mol, approaching the theoretical maximum value, and the experimentally obtained thermochemical efficiency of solar thermal energy converted into chemical energy is in the range of 30-50%, which is competitive with other high-temperature solar thermochemical processes. A kinetic model of solar-driven methanol steam reforming related to solar flux is also derived based on the experimental data. The promising results demonstrate that this solar-driven hydrogen production method can be feasible in practical applications.

Suggested Citation

  • Liu, Qibin & Hong, Hui & Yuan, Jianli & Jin, Hongguang & Cai, Ruixian, 2009. "Experimental investigation of hydrogen production integrated methanol steam reforming with middle-temperature solar thermal energy," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 86(2), pages 155-162, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:86:y:2009:i:2:p:155-162
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0306-2619(08)00068-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Zedtwitz, P.v. & Steinfeld, A., 2003. "The solar thermal gasification of coal — energy conversion efficiency and CO2 mitigation potential," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 28(5), pages 441-456.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Yadav, Deepak & Banerjee, Rangan, 2022. "Thermodynamic and economic analysis of the solar carbothermal and hydrometallurgy routes for zinc production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 247(C).
    2. M. Shahabuddin & Tanvir Alam, 2022. "Gasification of Solid Fuels (Coal, Biomass and MSW): Overview, Challenges and Mitigation Strategies," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(12), pages 1-20, June.
    3. Ng, Yi Cheng & Lipiński, Wojciech, 2012. "Thermodynamic analyses of solar thermal gasification of coal for hybrid solar-fossil power and fuel production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 44(1), pages 720-731.
    4. Su, Jian & Zhao, Deng & Feng, Haoyuan & Wu, Tianyu & Liu, Hua & Wang, Huashan & Guo, Shuai & Liu, Hui, 2023. "Using molecular dynamics simulations to study the non-thermal effects of microwave radiation on the mechanism of char gasification," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 202(C), pages 784-796.
    5. Bellan, Selvan & Gokon, Nobuyuki & Matsubara, Koji & Cho, Hyun Seok & Kodama, Tatsuya, 2018. "Heat transfer analysis of 5kWth circulating fluidized bed reactor for solar gasification using concentrated Xe light radiation," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 160(C), pages 245-256.
    6. Tong, Huanhuan & Yao, Zhiyi & Lim, Jun Wei & Mao, Liwei & Zhang, Jingxing & Ge, Tian Shu & Peng, Ying Hong & Wang, Chi-Hwa & Tong, Yen Wah, 2018. "Harvest green energy through energy recovery from waste: A technology review and an assessment of Singapore," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 163-178.
    7. Gokon, Nobuyuki & Izawa, Takuya & Kodama, Tatsuya, 2015. "Steam gasification of coal cokes by internally circulating fluidized-bed reactor by concentrated Xe-light radiation for solar syngas production," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 79(C), pages 264-272.
    8. Yadav, Deepak & Banerjee, Rangan, 2016. "A review of solar thermochemical processes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 497-532.
    9. Zhong, Dian & Zeng, Kuo & Li, Jun & Yang, Xinyi & Song, Yang & Zhu, Youjian & Flamant, Gilles & Nzihou, Ange & Yang, Haiping & Chen, Hanping, 2021. "3E analysis of a biomass-to-liquids production system based on solar gasification," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 217(C).
    10. Gokon, Nobuyuki & Kumaki, Satoshi & Miyaguchi, Yosuke & Bellan, Selvan & Kodama, Tatsuya & Cho, Hyunseok, 2019. "Development of a 5kWth internally circulating fluidized bed reactor containing quartz sand for continuously-fed coal-coke gasification and a beam-down solar concentrating system," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 1-16.
    11. Anirudh Singh & Atul Dhar & Parmod Kumar & Satvasheel Powar, 2022. "Computational Study on Parametric Variation with Solar Heat Induction of an Entrained Flow Gasifier," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(11), pages 1-17, May.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:appene:v:86:y:2009:i:2:p:155-162. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/405891/description#description .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.