An Estimation of the Capacity to Produce Hydrogen by Wasted Hydroelectric Energy for the Three Largest Brazilian Hydroelectric
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th Proceedings of the 5 International Workshop on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells October 26 –29, 2010 Campinas, SP, Brazil ISSN 2179-5029 AN ESTIMATION OF THE CAPACITY TO PRODUCE HYDROGEN BY WASTED HYDROELECTRIC ENERGY FOR THE THREE LARGEST BRAZILIAN HYDROELECTRIC (1) JANINE C. PADILHA (1) LETÍCIA G. DA TRINDADE (1) ROBERTO F. DE SOUZA (2) MARCELO MIGUEL (1)Institute of Chemistry, UFRGS, Av. Bento Gonçalves, 9500, Porto Alegre, RS, 91501-970, Brazil. (2) Itaipu Binacional, Av. Tancredo Neves, 6731, Foz do Iguaçu, PR, 85856-970, Brazil. ABSTRACT The use of water wasted in hydroelectric plants as normalization dam excess, which constitute a hydrodynamic potential useful to generate electric energy which can be subsequently used to produce hydrogen and its subsequent consumption in fuel cells has been considered as an alternative for hydraulic energy-rich countries like Brazil. The case is examined in which all the water wasted in the hydroelectric plants, spilled by dam gates to maintain acceptable water levels, from the 3 largest Brazilian hydroelectric plants was used to produce hydrogen. During the year of 2008, the electric energy produced from this utilization would have been equivalent to 52.8 TWh, an amount that corresponds to an increase of ca. 15% of the total electric energy produced in the country. Furthermore, if this amount of hydrogen was used in the replacement of internal combustion vehicles by fuel cells, this would have prevented the production of 2.26 x 7 10 ton of CO 2 per year. This plan would also significantly decrease production and release of greenhouse gases. KEY WORDS Hydrogen; CO 2; combustion; energy wasted; gasoline; transport. ABBREVIATIONS EH2O hydraulic energy g gravitational acceleration H waterfall height IPCC Intergovernmental Panel of Climatic Change J joule kg kilogram km kilometre kWh kilo watt hour L litre MME Mines and Energy Ministry m meter m3 cubic meter ONS Electrical System National Operator (Brazil) 1 Correspondence should be addressed to Janine C. Padilha: Phone: + 55 (51) 3308-6318; fax: + 55 (51) 3308-7304; e-mail: [email protected] 19 th Proceedings of the 5 International Workshop on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells October 26 –29, 2010 Campinas, SP, Brazil ISSN 2179-5029 TWh tera watt hour V volume of water ρ water density 1. INTRODUCTION In the last several years, the earth has experienced rapid climate change. A considerable contribution to this problem is the production of CO 2 by fossil fuel combustion. Fossil fuels are non-renewable, polluting energy sources. The total amount of fossil fuel reserves will inexorably decrease, resulting in increasing commercial fuel prices [1-3]. This situation is geopolitically dependent since fossil fuel reserves are inhomogeneously distributed. This uneven distribution gives rise to apparently conflicting evaluations about the importance and urgency of these concerns for different countries. A second, even more important concern is the greenhouse effect caused by CO 2 produced during fossil fuel combustion [4-6]. This effect is at the centre of the discussion of global warming and is one of the main reasons that fossil fuels should be replaced as soon as possible. There is a growing consensus that society should replace fossil fuels with renewable, clean energy sources such as wind, water, and solar energy [7-9]. It is now widely accepted that changes in the matrix of energy sources are needed in order to ensure continuity of social development. The nature of the energy sources available in each location is strongly dependent on local geopolitical conditions [10-11]. In the case of Brazil, the energetic situation is peculiar due to the very large hydroelectric potential. Brazilian hydroelectric plants supply 72.6% of total electric energy consumed in the country, an extremely high level when compared with the mean global value of 16% [12]. The large number of rivers with sufficiently high flow and elevation change is a peculiar geographic configuration that gives Brazil an enormous hydroenergetic potential. Both public and private hydroelectric plants exploit this potential. These plants provide a particularly clean energy source but have a significant drawback: namely dependence of the electrical total capacity on the amount of rain, which varies with the seasons. Hydroelectric plants are planned taking into account this availability of water. A certain excess capacity is needed in the dams in order to ensure continuity of distribution. A closer examination of this operational situation shows that there is an excess amount of water that must be drained by the lock gates of the dams in order to decrease the reservoir volume and prevent overflow. This amount of water is “wasted” in terms of electric energy production. A new approach in which this energy could be utilized is very desirable. In this paper, we describe the use of this “excess” dam water for the production of electric energy used for hydrogen production. This hydrogen, in turn, can be used for the mobile production of electricity using fuel cells. 2. RESULTS 2.1. Wasted energy as spilled water in the hydroelectric plants at Brazil The total electric energy supply of Brazil in 2007 was 444.6 TWh, as published by the MME (Mines and Energy Ministry) [12]. This comprises the production of hydroelectricity (72.6%), thermoelectricity (14.7%), and other methods (12.7%). The ONS (Electrical System National Operator) of Brazil published the volume of water spilled by the drain gates, i.e., water drained by opened lock gates by the 3 largest hydroelectric plants 20 th Proceedings of the 5 International Workshop on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells October 26 –29, 2010 Campinas, SP, Brazil ISSN 2179-5029 of Brazil. This value can be transformed to a hydraulic energy. A daily volume of water (V) submitted to a waterfall of height (H) gives a hydraulic energy ( E ) calculated as in (1) [13], 2OH = ρ E . g .V . H (Eq. 1) 2OH 2OH where E is the hydraulic energy in J, ρ is the water density in kg m -3, g is the 2OH 2OH gravitational acceleration in m s -2, V is the volume of wasted water in m 3, and H is the waterfall height in m. Equation 1 can be used to calculate the wasted energy of each one of the 3 reported Brazilian hydroelectric plants. Figure 1 shows these values for the three largest Brazilian hydroelectric plants, which are responsible for 49.7% of the wasted energy in the country (Table 1). 35 30 25 20 kWh 9 15 Energy / 10 Energy 10 5 0 Itaipu Tucurui Xingó Figure 1 . Electric energy that could be produced using wasted water in three largest Brazilian hydroelectric plants in 2008 . The total amount of energy wasted as spilled water for the three largest hydroelectric in Brazil during the year 2008 was calculated to be 190.5 x 10 15 J and corresponds to 52.8 TWh. This amount of energy is equivalent to 12% of all electric energy generated in Brazil or 15% of the hydroelectric energy produced in the country. This value assumes that all water wasted would be used to produce electric energy in the hydroelectric plants, a situation that can be limited by the installed production capacity. Table 1 . ONS data on wasted water and waterfall of the three largest Brazilian hydroelectric stations. Wasted water Waterfall Hydroelectric m3 m Itaipu 6.00 x 10 10 196 Tucuruí 9.14 x 10 10 63.2 Xingó 1.60 x 10 10 118.5 21 th Proceedings of the 5 International Workshop on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells October 26 –29, 2010 Campinas, SP, Brazil ISSN 2179-5029 The values calculated herein demonstrate that the waste of energy as spilled water represents a non-negligible part of the Brazilian economic need. This waste must be considered from the perspective of economics, dependence on petroleum and, more fundamentally, environmental concerns. This waste has never been taken into account because this security margin was considered necessary. Previously, this assumption has been correct, but, in this paper, we describe a proposal to completely use this excess hydroelectric potential. The impact of such energy recuperation can be examined by performing a calculation of its use to produce hydrogen gas and the use of this hydrogen to power engines via a portable fuel cell system. It has been demonstrated that about 47.8 kWh of electric energy are necessary to produce 1 kg of hydrogen using a classic water electrolysis system [13]. Thus, the total wasted electric energy, 52.8 TWh in one year, can produce ca. 1.10 x 10 9 kg (1.10 x 10 6 ton) of gaseous hydrogen. Different authors ascribe different electric energy costs for hydrogen production, varying between 33 kWh [14,15] and 47.8 kWh [13]. This fluctuation is understandable since this value depends on local configurations and the consequent operational costs. The value 47.8 kWh adopted in this work seems to be the most realistic given the target community. The hydrogen potentially produced from wasted hydroelectric energy can be used in fuel cell systems, yielding electric energy and water. A typical fuel cell vehicle consumes about 0.011 kg of hydrogen per km [16]. With 1.10 x 10 6 ton of hydrogen, one vehicle would be able to travel 1.0 x 10 11 km. Different studies claim different values for hydrogen consumption in fuel cell- powered automobiles. These values vary between 0.010 and 0.011 kg of hydrogen per km [16,17]. This fluctuation depends on aspects like project conception, mean speed, driving cycle and so on. The value of 0.011 kg of hydrogen per km adopted in this work seems to be the most realistic since it has been observed in commercial vehicles like the Clarity from Honda (0.0086 kg of hydrogen per km [18]).