A study of a novel design for efficient hydrolysis reactor for the Cu-Cl thermochemical hydrogen production cycle

Abstract

In this thesis, methods to optimize the Hydrolysis reactor for the Cu-Cl thermochemical Hydrogen production cycle were investigated. A simplified Hydrolysis reactor using simple off-the-shelf components was tested and found to suffer from corrosion due to the materials selected for the atomizing nozzle. Because of this corrosion issue, the decision was made to focus on gas-solid Hydrolysis reactors, such as the fluidized bed. This led to the investigation of a novel design for a Hydrolysis reactor, referred to as the Recirculating Steam Fluidized Bed (RSFB) reactor. By recirculating un-used steam through the Hydrolysis reaction directly, the RSFB reactor lowers the steam-to-copper ratio significantly while maintaining favorable reaction kinetics. This design was found to result in a more concentrated HCl acid product, simplifying integration between Hydrolysis and Electrolysis. This novel design represents an opportunity for advancing the Cu-Cl cycle and paves the way to large-scale deployment.