Solar Hydrogen from Thermochemical Water-Splitting: The ... · Solar Hydrogen from Thermochemical Water-Splitting: The HYDROSOL process and beyond HYDROSOL-II Athanasios G. Konstandopoulos

Solar Hydrogen from Thermochemical Water-Splitting:

The HYDROSOL process and beyond

HYDROSOL-II

Athanasios G. KonstandopoulosCoordinator

Aerosol and Particle Technology Laboratory (APTL)CPERI/CERTH, Thessaloniki, Greece

Renewable Hydrogen Pathways

Consortium

APTL/CERTH/CPERI - Aerosol & Particle Technology Laboratory (Coordinator)

DLR - Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt

JOHNSON MATTHEY

STOBBE TECHNICAL CERAMICS

CIEMAT - Centro de Investigaciones Energéticas, MedioAmbientales Y Tecnológicas

DURATION: 01/11/05-31/10/09; Total cost: 4.297.400 € ; EU funding: 2.182.700 €

The HYDROSOL Concept

Solar Hydrogen production via a two-step water splitting process, performed on monolithic honeycomb reactors, capable of developing high temperatures under concentrated solar irradiance and coated with active redox materials capable of water-splitting and regeneration, so that complete operation (water-splitting and redox material regeneration) is achieved in a closed solar reactor.

1 2 2x xM O H O M O H− + → + (Exothermic)

Reduced state Oxidized state

11 22x xM O M O O−→ + (Endothermic)

Reduced stateOxidized state

Renewable energy sources and raw materialsZero greenhouse gas emissionsLong-term potential

Descartes Prize (Mar. 7, 2007)IPHE Inaugural Technical Achievement Award (Jun. 13, 2006) 100 Global Ecotech Award-EXPO Japan (Sept. 1, 2005)

The HYDROSOL Concept

800 C

1200 C

The HYDROSOL Concept

The HYDROSOL Concept

Basic Features

Use of solar radiation absorbing ceramic honeycomb structures

Synthesis of active water-splitting redox nanomaterials with non-conventional techniques

Fixing/coating of the redox materials on the channels of the honeycomb

Advantages

No circulation of (hot) solid reactants

Product separation straightforward

No problems with the recovery of high temperature heat

Project Goals

The aim of HYDROSOL-II is to design and build a solar Hydrogen pilot plant (100 kWth) based on thermo-chemical water-splitting, carried out on monolithic ceramic honeycombs coated with active redox materials.

Set the stage for further scale-up of the HYDROSOL technology and its effective coupling with solar thermal concentration systems, in order to exploit and demonstrate all potential advantages.

Optimisation of metal oxide/ceramic support assembly (enhancement to achieve long-term multi-cyclic solar operation with high efficiency) Design of the 100kWth solar pilot plant (geometry and size of pilot plant “modular” absorber/reactor; adaptation of the heliostat field of Plataforma Solar de Almería to the specific thermo-chemical process and alternating heat flux requirementsManufacture of the integrated pilot-scale solar reactor system Test operation of pilot plant for continuous Hydrogen production Evaluation of technical and economic potential

Key project activities

2004: First solar thermochemical (STC) Η2 production

2005: Continuous STC Η2 production

2008: World’s largest STC H2 reactor (100 kW)

Hydrosol technology scale-up

Hydrosol-I

Hydrosol-II

DLR solar furnace

PSA solar tower

Materials Development

Field evaluationof coated monoliths

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 400

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

16

18

5. day4. day3. day2. day

mdo

t,H2 in

10-5

g/s

Time in h

1. day

50-cycles of solar water-splitting

Key milestone

Water-splitting on redox coated

honeycombs

Redoxmaterial coated SiSiChoneycombs

SEM analysis for the investigation of the quality of

coating and the effect of solar water splitting

Hyd

roge

n Y

ield

Solar reactor development

Design of the reactor

Thermo-structural modeling of the reactor

Reactor integration with heliostat field

Solar reactor control

Process flowsheet Reactor temperature control

Power East (23.04.2009)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

10:15:0010:30:0010:45:0011:00:0011:15:0011:30:0011:45:0012:00:0012:15:0012:30:0012:45:0013:00:0013:15:0013:30:0013:45:0014:00:0014:15:0014:30:0014:45:0015:00:00

Time

Pow

er [k

W]

Power SimulatedPower Measured

HYDROSOL-ΙΙ Reactor

SSPS Tower of Plataforma Solar Almeria, Spain

Hydrogen production in the Hydrosol II Reactor

c(H

2) [%

]

0

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10:1

4:25

:00

10:2

3:35

:20

10:3

2:44

:07

10:4

1:52

:96

10:5

1:02

:50

11:0

0:11

:62

11:0

9:20

:68

11:1

8:29

:71

11:2

7:39

:00

11:3

6:48

:32

11:4

6:05

:43

11:5

6:01

:18

12:0

5:54

:21

12:1

5:39

:75

12:2

5:34

:45

12:3

5:25

:87

12:4

5:16

:01

12:5

5:09

:93

13:0

5:27

:85

13:1

5:38

:89

13:2

5:49

:78

13:3

6:25

:34

13:4

6:39

:26

13:5

7:08

:35

14:0

7:44

:28

14:1

7:45

:50

14:2

8:13

:50

14:3

8:43

:34

14:4

8:38

:73

14:5

9:09

:28

15:0

9:48

:46

15:2

0:15

:14

15:3

0:54

:76

15:4

1:34

:09

15:5

2:11

:10

16:0

2:50

:15

16:1

3:29

:14

16:2

3:59

:71

16:3

4:38

:90

16:4

5:13

:87

16:5

4:56

:40

SummaryOptimization of the coating material and method

Investigation of the operational parameters that affect H2 production (amount of O2 during regeneration, increase of splitting temperature etc).

The HYDROSOL II reactor concept was scaled up from the solar furnace to a 100 kW pilot plant on the tower of the PSA

A control system guarantees stable working conditions, proven by thermal and hydrogen production tests

Challenges & Opportunities: Fuels from CO2 and solar H2

Η2Ο

Η2

CO2

From sequestration

C + O2 → CO2

4Η2 + CO2 →CΗ4 + 2H2O3Η2 + CO2 →CΗ3ΟΗ+ H2O

Η2Ο→ Η2 + ½ Ο2

CO

Η2Ο

Cyc

le

2C

ycle

Tomorrow’s Solar Thermochemical Plant

Production of Solar Fuels (renewable H2 and CH4 / CH3OH),Recycling of CO2, Production of Electricity and Desalinated H2O

CapturedCO2

H2O

Sea water

Desalinated H2O

CH4, CH3OH

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. Con

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H2

Heat

Electricity

A Renewable Future for EuropeMare Nostrum (Reloaded)

Solar thermal

Adapted from DESERTEC White Paper (2007)

WindPhotovoltaicHYDROSOL

Hydroelectric

Biomass

Geothermal

Thank you for your attention!

www.hydrosol-project.org