Date of Award

2011

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Engineering Science

Program

Mechanical and Materials Engineering

Supervisor

Dr. Kamran Siddiqui

Abstract

The study is aimed to numerically investigate the production of hydrogen through ZnO/Zn thermochemical water splitting cycle. It is a two step process, which reduces zinc oxide in the first step to produce hydrogen in the second step. Commercial CFD software FLUENT 6.B is utilized to numerically model both steps. The parametric study of first step showed considerable effect of zinc oxide particle diameter, and flow rates of argon and zinc oxide on the fractional conversion of zinc oxide. Six different receiver configurations were assessed to find the most feasible configuration. The optimum receiver design allowed zinc oxide conversion of almost 100%. The parametric study of hydrolysis step showed that the hydrogen yield is significantly affected by the diameter of zinc particle, reactor surface temperature, and argon/steam molar ratio. Six different mixing configurations of the reactor were also analyzed. The optimum reactor design produced hydrogen yield of around 88%.

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