Chemical Looping Systems for Alternative Fuel Production and Processing: Advancements to STWS, SMR, the Contact Process and the Sulphur-Iodine Cycle
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Date
2017-05
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The Ohio State University
Abstract
The field of alternative energy could be seen as analogous to a deep oil well in that there is a vast amount of potential just waiting to be discovered, however an initial capital investment will need to be made in order to extract this energy. For now, this investment lies in both research and infrastructure, since most of the current issues regarding substitutes for coal and oil rely on their economic viability. The current methods for producing clean energy and fuels will need to be continually improved until they become competitive. Several examples of efficiency and material improvements have been described herein. Using FactSage and thermodynamic minimization, a strong conceptual foundation has been developed for a total of seven chemical looping reaction pathways with the potential to improve the efficiency of producing fuels such as methane and hydrogen, as well as industrial chemicals such as sulphuric acid. These include multiple cycles for hydrogen, methane and sulphuric acid production based on aluminum cerium oxide, an ameliorated sulphur-iodine cycle using silver bromide photodecomposition, and various catalytic improvements for methane reforming and steam methane reforming. Experimental verification should be performed for the proposed reaction pathways in order to determine their potential for actualization.
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Keywords
Energy, Alternative Energy, Chemical Looping, Simulation, Hydrogen, Clean Fuels, Water Splitting, Methane Reforming