Quantifying the impact of pump performance, chemical conversion, and material properties on solar hydrogen production

Jarrett, Colby Lewis

Title:

Quantifying the impact of pump performance, chemical conversion, and material properties on solar hydrogen production

dc.contributor.advisor	Henry, Asegun
dc.contributor.author	Jarrett, Colby Lewis
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Sandhage, Kenneth
dc.contributor.committeeMember	Cola, Baratunde A.
dc.contributor.department	Mechanical Engineering
dc.date.accessioned	2016-01-07T17:21:56Z
dc.date.available	2016-01-07T17:21:56Z
dc.date.created	2014-12
dc.date.issued	2014-12-01
dc.date.submitted	December 2014
dc.date.updated	2016-01-07T17:21:56Z
dc.description.abstract	As renewable energy production becomes more prevalent, the challenge of producing renewable dispatchable fuel for the transportation sector remains unresolved. One promising approach is to produce hydrogen from solar energy with a two step thermochemical cycle which utilizes an oxygen storage material (OSM) to split water through two reversible reactions. Due to the strong coupling between reactor design, operational parameters, and OSM properties, the direct comparison of two OSMs is not straightforward. In order to guide the designs of OSMs for two-step thermochemical hydrogen production, a methodology is developed to model the max performance possible for a two-step thermochemical cycle. The novel contribution of this model considers the strong coupling between reactor operation, OSM properties, and reactor performance. Next, a method for screening and evaluating new OSMs which utilizes thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) is proposed. With this data, the modeling method previously developed is applied to determine maximum reactor efficiency possible with new materials. This allows many materials to be evaluated quickly, and facilitates further characterization new OSMs. Additionally, by comparing the predicted maximum efficiency of a new material with the efficiency of current ones, this method facilitates the comparison of two different OSMs on equal footing.
dc.description.degree	M.S.
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1853/54297
dc.language.iso	en_US
dc.publisher	Georgia Institute of Technology
dc.subject	Water spiting
dc.subject	Oxygen storage material
dc.subject	Thermogravimetric analysis
dc.subject	Reduction enthalpy
dc.subject	Thermal to chemical conversion efficiency
dc.subject	Redox cycle
dc.subject	Ceria
dc.subject	Vacuum pump efficiency
dc.subject	Chemical conversion
dc.title	Quantifying the impact of pump performance, chemical conversion, and material properties on solar hydrogen production
dc.type	Text
dc.type.genre	Thesis
dspace.entity.type	Publication
local.contributor.corporatename	George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
local.contributor.corporatename	College of Engineering
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication	c01ff908-c25f-439b-bf10-a074ed886bb7
relation.isOrgUnitOfPublication	7c022d60-21d5-497c-b552-95e489a06569
thesis.degree.level	Masters