ADVANCES IN HYDROGEN ENERGY This page intentionally left blank. ADVANCES IN HYDROGEN ENERGY Edited by Catherine E. Grégoire Padró National Renewable Energy Laboratory Golden, Colorado and Francis Lau Institute of Gas Technology Des Plaines, Illinois Kluwer AcademicPublishers New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow eBookISBN: 0-306-46922-7 Print ISBN: 0-306-46429-2 ©2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers New York, Boston, Dordrecht, London, Moscow All rights reserved No part of this eBook may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording, or otherwise, without written consent from the Publisher Created in the United States of America Visit Kluwer Online at: http://www.kluweronline.com and Kluwer's eBookstore at: http://www.ebooks.kluweronline.com FOREWORD In the future, our energy systems will need to be renewable and sustainable, efficient and cost- effective, convenient and safe. Hydrogen has been proposed as the perfect fuel for this future energy system. The availability of a reliable and cost-effective supply, safe and efficient storage, and convenient end use of hydrogen will be essential for a transition to a Hydrogen Economy. Researchisbeingconductedthroughouttheworldforthe developmentofsafe, cost- effective hydrogen production, storage, and use technologies that support and foster this transition. This book is a collection of important research and analysis papers on hydrogen production, storage, and end use technologies that were presented at the American Chemical Society National Meeting, in New Orleans, Louisiana (USA), in August, 1999. Hydrogen production from fossil fuels will continue for the foreseeable future, given the large resource and the established industrial base. Research is focused on improving the environmental aspects of fossil fuel use, and a number of papers address advanced hydrogen production technologies that reduce or eliminate CO emissions from the production process. 2 In addition, hydrogen production from biomass, a renewable resource with the potential for zero net CO emissions, is discussed. 2 Hydrogen production technologies, no matter the feedstock, rely on hydrogen separation and purification technologies that, due to high energy consumption, reduce the overall efficiency of the process. The development of membrane separation technologies that reduce the amount of energy required to produce high-purity hydrogen will have important impacts on current and future production processes. Ceramic membrane development work is discussed in this book. Understanding the behavior of hydrogen in metals and alloys is important for the development of efficient hydrogen storage and transport processes. Several papers focus on developing a fundamental understanding of the effect of hydrogen on metals. In addition, a novel storage and transport process relying on chemical hydride slurries is also presented. Safety aspects of hydrogen use are of primary concern, particularly given the negative public perception of hydrogen. Papers cover the development of cost-effective hydrogen sensors for use in vehicles and buildings, and discuss insights gained in the design of self-venting buildings via modeling of the behavior of hydrogen leaks in closed spaces. Finally, the development of integrated hydrogen energy systems is discussed from the perspective of grid-independent renewable systems for remote applications. v We believe the papers in this book will serve to advance the concept of a Hydrogen Economy as a technical, economic, and environmental solution to increased energy consumption and a cleaner world. Catherine E. Grégoire Padró National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Francis Lau Institute of Gas Technology vi CONTENTS HydrogenfromFossilFuelswithoutCO Emissions......................................................................... 1 2 Nazim Muradov Hydrogen Production from Western Coal Including CO Sequestration and Coalbed 2 MethaneRecovery: Economics, CO Emissions,andEnergyBalance.........................................17 2 Pamela Spath and Wade Amos UnmixedReforming: ANovelAutothermalCyclicSteamReformingProcess.........................31 Ravi V. Kumar, Richard K. Lyon, and Jerald A. Cole Fuel Flexible Reforming ofHydrocarbons for Automotive Applications........................................47 J.P. Kopasz, R. Wilkenhoener, S.Ahmed, J.D. Carter, and M. Krumpelt TheProductionofHydrogenfromMethaneUsing TubularPlasmaReactors.................................... 57 Christopher L. Gordon, Lance L. Lobban, andRichardG. Mallinson A Novel Catalytic Process for Generating Hydrogen Gas from Aqueous Borohydride Solutions.................................................................................................................................... 69 Steven C. Amendola, MichaelBinder, Michael T. Kelly, PhillipJ. Petillo, and Stefanie L. Sharp-Goldman Productionof Hydrogenfrom Biomass by Pyrolysis/SteamReforming........................................... 87 Stefan Czernik, Richard French, Calvin Feik, and Esteban Chornet Evaluation and Modeling of a High-Temperature, High-pressure, Hydrogen Separation Membrane for Enhanced Hydrogen Production from the Water-GasShiftReaction............................................................................................................93 R.M. Enick, B. D. Morreale, J. Hill, K.S. Rothenberger, A. V. Cugini, R. V. Siriwardane, L.A. Poston, U. Balachandran, T. H. Lee, S. E. Dorris, W.J. Graham, and B.H. Howard vii A First-Principles Study of Hydrogen Dissolution in Various Metals and Palladium-SilverAlloys................................................................................................................ 111 Yasuharu Yokoi, Tsutomu Seki, and Isamu Yasuda Investigation ofaNovel Metal Hydride Electrode forNi-MH Batteries............................................. 121 N. Rajalakshmi, K.S. Dhathathreyan, and Sundara Ramaprabhu HydrogenStorageUsing SlurriesofChemicalHydrides...............................................................131 Andrew W. McClaine, Ronald W. Breault, Jonathan Rolfe, Christopher Larsen, Ravi Kanduri, Gabor Miskolczy, and Frederick Becker Advances inLowCostHydrogenSensorTechnology..................................................................149 Rodney D. Smith, David K. Benson, J. Roland Pitts, and Barbara S. Hoffheins The Applicationof aHydrogenRiskAssessmentMethodtoVentedSpaces.......................163 Michael R. Swain, Eric S. Grilliot, and Matthew N. Swain Modeling of Integrated Renewable Hydrogen Energy Systems for Remote Applications............................................................................................................................175 Eric Martin and Nazim Muradov INDEX ............................................................................................................................................ 191 viii HYDROGEN FROM FOSSIL FUELS WITHOUT CO EMISSIONS 2 Nazim Muradov Florida Solar Energy Center Cocoa, FL 32922-5703 INTRODUCTION In the near- to medium-term future, hydrogen production will continue to rely on fossil fuels, primarily natural gas (NG). It is generally understood that the renewable energy-based processes of hydrogen production (photoelectrochemical and photobiological decomposition of water, solar-photovoltaic water electrolysis, thermochemical and hybrid water splitting cycles, etc.) would unlikely yield significant reduction in hydrogen costs in the next 1-2 decades. The future of nuclear power systems, a relatively clean and abundant energy source, still remains uncertain due to strong public opposition. In general, given the advantages inherent in fossil fuels such as their availability, cost-competitiveness, convenience of storage and transportation, they are likely to play a major role in global energy supply for the next century. On the other hand, fossil fuels are major source of anthropogenic CO emissions to 2 the atmosphere. Various scenarios of global energy use in the next century predict a continued increase in CO emissions that would gradually rise its concentration in the atmosphere to 2 dangerous levels. It is clear that the industrialized world would not be able to retain present living standards and meet challenges of global warming, unless major changes are made in the way we produce energy, and manage carbon emissions. There are several possible ways to mitigate CO emission problems. Among them are 2 traditional approaches including: (i) more efficient use of fossil fuel energy resources, (ii) increased use of clean fossil fuels, such as NG, and (iii) increased use of non-fossil fuels (nuclear power and renewable sources). The novel and most radical approach to effectively manage carbon emissions is the decarbonization of fossil fuels. Three main scenarios of fossil fuels decarbonization are currently discussed in the literature: • CO sequestration after fossil fuel combustion in energy conversion devices 2 • production of hydrogen by conventional processes (steam reforming, partial oxidation, etc.) with subsequent CO sequestration 2 • production of hydrogen and carbon via decomposition of NG and hydrocarbon fuels AdvancesinHydrogenEnergy,edited by Padró andLau Kluwer Academic/PlenumPublishers, 2000 1