Development and characterization of novel reduction-oxidation active materials for two-step solar thermochemical cycles

Bush, Hagan E.

Title:

Development and characterization of novel reduction-oxidation active materials for two-step solar thermochemical cycles

dc.contributor.advisor	Loutzenhiser, Peter G.
dc.contributor.author	Bush, Hagan E.
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Jeter, Sheldon
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Kumar, Satish
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Orlando, Thomas
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Ranjan, Devesh
dc.contributor.department	Mechanical Engineering
dc.date.accessioned	2019-08-21T13:51:22Z
dc.date.available	2019-08-21T13:51:22Z
dc.date.created	2019-08
dc.date.issued	2019-05-21
dc.date.submitted	August 2019
dc.date.updated	2019-08-21T13:51:22Z
dc.description.abstract	Solar thermochemistry enables concentrating solar technologies to store or produce energy and materials in new, more versatile ways. In this work, binary and perovskite metal oxide candidates for high-temperature reduction-oxidation (redox) thermochemical cycles were synthesized and characterized to determine their potential for solar applications. First, the experimental infrastructure required to study rapidly reacting, high temperature metal oxides was developed. A high flux solar simulator (HFSS) capable of rapid heating was coupled to an upward flow reactor (UFR) to thermally reduce oxide samples, and O2 product gas flows were measured to calculate thermal reduction rates. The radiative input from the HFSS was characterized and coupled to computational models of the UFR to predict gas dynamics and redox sample heating. Dispersion modeling was used to correct temporal O2 measurements downstream of reducing samples. Thermal reduction experiments with the well-studied binary oxide pair Co3O4/CoO were performed to validate the computational models. Next, the UFR and a thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA) were used to evaluate candidate materials. Fe2O3/Fe3O4 were kinetically characterized via TGA and evaluated in thermodynamic cycle models. The results suggested the oxides were promising candidates for solar thermochemical electricity production. Al-doped SrFeO3-δ was synthesized and reaction models were developed with TGA to predict equilibrium nonstoichiometry and redox thermodynamics. The results were incorporated into a thermodynamic cycle model, and redox cycling experiments were performed in the UFR. The analyses determined that the oxides were well-suited to air separation for NH3 production.
dc.description.degree	Ph.D.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1853/61704
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject	Air separation
dc.subject	Concentrating solar
dc.subject	Compound energy formalism
dc.subject	Computational fluid dynamics
dc.subject	Dispersion High flux solar simulator
dc.subject	Iron oxide
dc.subject	Kinetic
dc.subject	Monte Carlo ray tracing
dc.subject	Perovskite
dc.subject	Strontium ferrite
dc.subject	Thermochemistry
dc.subject	Thermochemical energy storage
dc.subject	Thermodynamic
dc.subject	Thermogravimetry
dc.subject	Upward flow reactor
dc.title	Development and characterization of novel reduction-oxidation active materials for two-step solar thermochemical cycles
dc.type	Text
dc.type.genre	Dissertation
dspace.entity.type	Publication
local.contributor.advisor	Loutzenhiser, Peter G.
local.contributor.corporatename	George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename	College of Engineering
relation.isAdvisorOfPublication	97a4b763-af4e-4b74-bfb3-78a50b72c8c4
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication	c01ff908-c25f-439b-bf10-a074ed886bb7
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication	7c022d60-21d5-497c-b552-95e489a06569
thesis.degree.level	Doctoral