Sonoelectrochemical Production of Hydrogen via Alkaline Water Electrolysis By Salman Hassan Zadeh Thesis prepared for the degree of Masters of Research in Hydrogen, Fuel cells and Their Applications Department of Chemical Engineering School of Engineering and Physical Sciences University Of Birmingham July 2012 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. AcknowledgementAcknowledgement Praise belongs to the creator and the foremost is the acknowledgement of him. I would like to start by thanking my supervisors Dr. Bushra Al-Duri and Dr. Bruno Pollet for their supervision and advice during this project. I wish to offer my appreciation and gratitude to my family especially my father for their help and support throughout this project without which the completion of this work wouldn’t have been possible. Finally it’s a pleasure for me to thank Professor Mahmoud Salari and Dr. Sarah Horswell for their guidance during this program, I am also grateful to Prof. Fryer, Prof. Kevin Kendall, Daniel Symes, Gaurav Gupta, Oliver Curnick, Dr. Surbhi Sharma, friends and fellow researchers at Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Research facility at the University of Birmingham for their help in the course of this task. 2 Table of Contents: TABLE OF FIGURES .........................................................................................................................................................5 TABLE OF TABLES ...........................................................................................................................................................6 CDROM CONTENTS ........................................................................................................................................................6 ABSTRACT ......................................................................................................................................................................7 CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................................8 1.1. INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................................................. 8 1.2. AIMS AND OBJECTIVES ................................................................................................................................................... 10 CHAPTER 2: BACKGROUND AND LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................................................. 11 2.1 HYDROGEN ................................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.1.1. Overview .......................................................................................................................................................... 11 2.1.2. Hydrogen as a fuel ........................................................................................................................................... 12 2.1.2.1. Energy content ............................................................................................................................................................. 13 2.1.3. Hydrogen Production ....................................................................................................................................... 14 2.1.3.1. Reforming of Natural gas.............................................................................................................................................. 15 2.1.3.2. Partial Oxidation of Hydrocarbons ............................................................................................................................... 15 2.1.3.3. Plasma, Sorbent-Enhanced and Autothermal Reforming ............................................................................................. 16 2.1.3.4. Gasification Technology ............................................................................................................................................... 16 2.1.3.5. Hydrogen from water ................................................................................................................................................... 18 2.1.3.6. Combined Cycle Processes (CCP) .................................................................................................................................. 19 2.1.3.7. Hydrogen from Biomass ............................................................................................................................................... 19 2.1.3.8. Thermo-chemical Hydrogen Production ...................................................................................................................... 20 2.1.3.9. Nuclear Hydrogen Production ...................................................................................................................................... 20 2.1.4. Hydrogen Storage and Distribution .................................................................................................................. 22 2.1.4.1. Hydrogen Storage; a literature survey ......................................................................................................................... 22 2.1.4.2. Hydrogen Distribution .................................................................................................................................................. 24 2.1.5. Transportation via Hydrogen Fuel .................................................................................................................... 24 2.2. FUEL CELLS .................................................................................................................................................................. 25 2.2.1. Fundamentals ................................................................................................................................................... 25 2.2.2. Thermodynamic considerations ....................................................................................................................... 26 2.2.2.1. Entropy ......................................................................................................................................................................... 27 2.2.2.2. Enthalpy ....................................................................................................................................................................... 27 2.2.2.3. Gibbs Free Energy ......................................................................................................................................................... 28 2.2.3. Type of fuel cells ............................................................................................................................................... 29 2.3. ELECTROLYSIS............................................................................................................................................................... 30 2.3.1. Commercial use of Electrolysis ......................................................................................................................... 33 2.4. ELECTROCHEMISTRY ...................................................................................................................................................... 35 2.4.1. Principles of Electrochemistry .......................................................................................................................... 35 2.4.1.1. Nernst Equation ........................................................................................................................................................... 35 2.4.1.2. Electrode Reactions ...................................................................................................................................................... 37 2.4.2. Electrochemical Terms ..................................................................................................................................... 39 2.4.2.1. Decomposition Potential .............................................................................................................................................. 39 2.4.2.2. Overpotential ............................................................................................................................................................... 40 2.4.2.3. Discharge Potential ...................................................................................................................................................... 42 2.5. ULTRASOUND .............................................................................................................................................................. 42 3 2.5.1. Principles .........................................................................................................................................................