Miley G.H., Gough W.C., Leon H.
University of Illinois, US
Keywords: distriuted hydrogen stations, hydrogen production, plasma processing
Small distributed hydrogen generating stations have been proposed. However, they are generally assumed to use water electrolysis units or various gas reforming processes. In this study we examine an alternate approach using the exhaust plasma from a small inertial electrostatic generator (IEC) is used to dissociate water for hydrogen production. This process requires more energy in the production step than conventional electrolysis, but it makes use of direct energy techniques to efficiency recover the “waste energy” from the process, both for electrical production and for recycle. As a result, the plant becomes a very efficient dual electrical-hydrogen production center. The electricity would be used locally while hydrogen could be transported to customers at surrounding stations over a reasonable area. A typical plant will be described and performance parameters presented along with a preliminary cost comparison with other approaches such as electrolysis units. An added benefit of this approach is that the technology scales to future fusion plasma plants for large scale hydrogen production. [1] References [1] George H. Miley, William C. Gough, and Hugo Leon, “Large-Scale Hydrogen Production Using a Fusion Torch Process”, Proceedings, ANS Topical Meeting on Fusion Energy, San Francisco, CA, Sept., 2009
Journal: TechConnect Briefs
Volume: 3, Nanotechnology 2009: Biofuels, Renewable Energy, Coatings, Fluidics and Compact Modeling
Published: May 3, 2009
Pages: 115 - 117
Industry sector: Energy & Sustainability
Topic: Energy Storage
ISBN: 978-1-4398-1784-1