Thermochemical Hydrogen Production

Abstract

[ES] Se espera que el hidrogeno sea un potente carburante dentro del ámbito energético en el futuro. Aunque la disociación del agua a altas temperaturas parece la manera más sencilla de producir hidrógeno, la termodinámica de este proceso es del todo desfavorable debido a sus altas temperaturas (2500K), lo que lo hace prácticamente imposible. Los ciclos termo-químicos de producción de hidrógeno pueden alentar este reto. Este proyecto tiene como objetivo analizar la viabilidad de estos ciclos de producción de hidrógeno.

[EN] The world population is continually increasing and so does the energy consumption. Moreover, a huge percentage of this energy comes from fossil fuels. To solve this issue, one of the streams of research is focused on hydrogen as a fuel. Hydrogen has three times more calorific power than any other common fuels such as gasoline. However, the most common way of producing hydrogen is using non-renewable. On the other hand, the water molecule can be split by increasing the temperature of this component. However, the temperature needed to split it is incredibly large. The aim of this project, is to research about different ways of making water splitting feasible. Specifically, a deep research on the different thermochemical cycles that have been studied will be done, getting focused on one of them. Concretely, the UT-3 cycle will be developed using ASPEN PLUS. Additionally, some parts will be suggested to make the process more efficient, changing its efficiency from 21% to 32%.