United States Patent mi [in 3,802,993 von Fredersdorff, deceased et al. [45] Apr. 9, 1974 [54] NON-FOSSIL FUEL PROCESS FOR 86,248 1/1869 Phillips 423/579 PRODUCTION OF HYDROGEN AND OTHER PUBLICATIONS OXYGEN James V. Quagliano, Chemistry Second Edition, Au- [75] Inventors: Claus George von Fredersdorff, gust, 1963, Prentice-Hall Inc., pp. 108-117. deceased, late of Oak Park, 111.; by George C. von Fredersdorff, Primary Examiner—Harvey E. Behrend administrator, Des Plaines, 111. Attorney, Agent, or Firm—Molinare, Allegretti, Newitt [73] Assignee: Institute of Gas Technology, & Witcoff Chicago, 111. [22] Filed: Dec. 27, 1971 [57] ABSTRACT [21] Appl. No.. 211,960 Hydrogen and oxygen production by fissiochemical decomposition of carbon dioxide to produce carbon monoxide and oxygen, followed by subsequent separa- [52] U.S. CI 176/37, 176/39, 423/219, tion of the oxygen from the carbon monoxide, and 423/579, 423/658 production of hydrogen by the action of steam on iron [51] Int. CI G21c 9/00 at elevated temperature followed by regeneration of [58] Field of Search 176/10, 37, 38, 39, 92 R; the product iron oxide by carbon monoxide as sepa- 204/129; 423/648, 656, 657, 579, 594, 219, rated from the fissiochemical decomposition products 248; 252/301.1; 23/204, 221, 210-214 issuing from the nuclear reactor. The oxygen may be separated from the fissiochemical decomposition [56] References Cited products by the formation of metal oxide by reaction UNITED STATES PATENTS with reactive metals such as iron, chromium, manga- 2,558,756 7/1951 Jackson et al 423/579 nese and mercury. The process also employs steps for 2,671,013 3/1954 Watson 423/657 preventing build-up of oxygen concentrations to ex- 3,228,850 1/1966 Fellows 252/301.1 R plosive levels, steps for recovery of radioisotopes, and 3,335.062 8/1967 Feates et a! 176/92 R the generation of steam. 3,442,620 5/1969 Huebler et al .....423/658 3,535,082 10/1970 Nurnberg et al 423/657 18 Claims, 1 Drawing Figure HYDROGEN A? onro? PURGE —* 62 dS MAKE-OP PATENTEOAPR 9 1974 3.802.993 -N MAKE-UP HYDROGEN- COZ MAKE-UP- 2 SI AS MAKE-UP INVENTOR: CLAUS GEORGE VONFREDERSDORFF BY ATT'YS 3,802,993 1 2 NON-FOSSIL FUEL PROCESS FOR PRODUCTION OF HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, hydrogen and oxygen is produced by fissiochemical decomposition of carbon FIELD OF THE INVENTION 5 dioxide to yield carbon monoxide and oxygen. This is This invention relates to a process for generation of followed by separation of the oxygen from the carbon hydrogen and oxygen from water and involving fissio- monoxide. Thereafter hydrogen is produced by the ac- chemical decomposition of carbon dioxide. The hydro- tion of steam on iron at elevated temperature wherein gen produced may be used as a fuel to augment fossil the product iron oxide is regenerated by the carbon fuel supplies which are being rapidly depleted. The ox- 10 monoxide which was separated from the fissiochemical ygen may be used in a variety of industrial processes, decomposition products issuing from the nuclear reac- such as steel making, glass making, and the like. tor. The oxygen may be separated from the fissiochemi- cal decomposition products by the formation of metal BACKGROUND oxide by reaction with reactive metals such as iron, Attempts to produce hydrogen gas by the reduction 15 chromium, manganese, mercury and barium. The pro- of water in chemical nuclear reactors have been unsuc- cess also employs steps for preventing build-up of oxy- cessful primarily because the decomposition of water in gen concentrations to explosive levels, the recovery of such reactors yields an explosive mixture of hydrogen radioisotopes, and the generation of steam. and oxygen. Further, the separation of the two gases is 20 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED extremely difficult. Chemical scavenging of either of EMBODIMENT the two gases tends to induce an explosion of the un- separated mixture. Likewise, purely mechanical-ther- Referring now to the FIGURE, letters A, B and C modynamic separating techniques such as palladium- refer to the three major sections of the entire system: foil-diffusers also produce a similar effect. A refers to the nuclar fissiochemical decomposition of 25 C0 section, B refers to the oxygen rcovery section, The purpose of producing hydrogen by action of nu- 2 and C refers to the hydrogen production section. clear energy is to augment the rapidly depleting sources of fossil fuel supplies. In addition, sources of hydrogen In Section A, under the influence of nuclear fission are needed for applications in fuel cell technology, in- energy, carbon dioxide chemically decomposes into its dustrial processes, and the like. monoxide and oxygen via the overall reaction: 30 CO i CO + % 0 .1 In contrast to prior nuclear energy generation of hy- g Ionizatio 2 drogen, conventional water-electrolysis hydrogen gen- Carbon dioxide is preferably decomposed in this sec- tion by direct exposure to high-velocity fission frag- erating processes effectively separate the oxygen of the ments. The ionizing ability of these fragments strips water from the hydrogen by actual physical separtion atomic oxygen from the dioxide. The nuclear fissio- through production of the two components at different 35 chemical decomposition Section A comprises an as- locations. In steam-hydrocarbon processes or steam- sembly 1 having an exterior neutron reflector shielding metal processes the two components are separated by 2, and a centrally disposed nuclear reactor Section 3. chemical binding, which requires further processing to The nuclear reactor Section 3 is cooled by the carbon release the desired products. These processes however dioxide incoming through line 4 which moderates the utilize fossil fuels, generally in excess of the fuel value 40 temperature of the reactor to run at about 1,000° to achieved in the hydrogen production. 1,100°F. Disposed between the central nuclear reactor section core 3, and the outer neutron reflector shield- OBJECTS OF THIS INVENTION ing 2 is a COz decomposition section or sections 5, Therefore, it is an object of this invention to produce which operate at about 600°F. hydrogen from water without the use of fossil fuel as 45 In operation, the carbon dioxide to be ionizingly de- either a reactant or a source of power. composed in the nuclear fissiochemical decomposition It is another object to provide a method of producing Section A comes in through line 6 and passes into the hydrogen as a fuel from water and carbon dioxide, decomposition sections 5 and 5'. The inlet C02 is ap- which process employs nuclear energy without the proximately 400°F., but this temperature may be varied prior art dangers, inefficiences and difficulties. to provide optimum process conditions in Section C. In It is another object of this invention to provide a the COz decomposition sections 5 and 5', the ionizing novel process of producing both hydrogen and oxygen radiation and temperature operate to decompose the from carbon dioxide and water utilizing nuclear energy C02 to carbon monoxide and oxygen pursuant to reac- in a safe, easily controlled process. 55 tion 1 above. At the same time, C02 gas being recycled It is another object of this invention to provide a nu- from line 4 moderates the central nuclear reactor sec- clear energy-utilizing process which produces as prod- tion 3, which is of conventional design. Recycle COz is ucts from water and carbon dioxide, hydrogen, oxygen, exhausted out line 7, and returned to other portions of isotopes and steam. the process system as described below. Make-up C02 Still a further object of this invention will be apparent 6Q may be added to the entire process convieniehtly at that stage through line 8, or at such other plate as will assist from the description which follows. in optimizing the overall process. The following detailed description has reference to a drawing in which: In the C02 decomposition sections, the ionizing radi- The FIGURE shows one embodiment, in schematic ation may also result in the formation of carbon and flow sheet form, of a process for hydrogen and oxygen 65 carbon sub-oxide deposits via a sequence of reactions production from nuclear decomposition of carbon di- as follows: oxide and the utilization of water as a hydrogen source. CO, ionization C + 2 O — ,2 C02 ionization CO + O — ,3 3,802,993 3 4 CO + C thermal C20— ,4 The C02 decomposition stream leaves the reactor via C20 + CO thermal c302 — , 5 the lines 11 and 11' at temperature below 1,000° F. and Carbonaceous deposits are undesirable in the process preferably in the range of 500-700° F., e.g., about 600° since they hinder the continuous operation of the nu- F. Unreacted C02 in this stream is eventually recycled clear reactor carbon dioxide decomposition section. A 5 to the reactor after passing through the oxygen recov- process of the present invention eliminates or mini- ery process system B. A portion of this COz recycle mizes the elemental carbon and carbon suboxide for- stream, which is separate from C02 recycle stream 4, mation through the use of a gasiform inhibitor such as 7, reenters the nuclcar reactor in a temperature range nitrogen or nitrogen dioxide. of from 200° to 400° F, preferably 300° F, via lines 13 While there is no desire to be bound by theory, it is 10 and 14 as described in more detail below. This direct through that the mechanism for the inhibition is as fol- recycle of low oxygen content gas directly from the ox- lows: ygen recovery system B assists in preventing buildup of N2 ionization*2N 6 oxygen concentration to explosive levels in the decom- • • N + O thermal NO 7 position section of the reactor assembly.