High pressure ammonia dissociation experiments for solar energy transport and storage

✍ Scribed by Keith M. Lovegrove

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1996
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 784 KB
• Volume: 20
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0363-907X
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1099-114x(199611)20:11<965::aid-er208>3.0.co;2-g

✦ Synopsis

Work relating to the application of the ammonia dissociation reaction to the thermochemical transport and storage of solar energy is reported. A two-dimensional pseudo-homogeneous packed-bed catalytic reactor model has been adapted to predict the behaviour of ammonia dissociation and synthesis reactors. A series of steady-state experiments, with a high-pressure ammonia dissociator operated in an 'open-loop' experimental configuration, have been used to verify the model. These experiments involved operating pressures up to 16 MPa and temperatures up to 720°C. The results indicated an activation energy of 192 kJ mol-' and a pre-exponential factor of 3.0 X lO'mol s -' cm-3 atm -' for the nickel-on-alumina dissociation catalyst used. The experiments also indicated that the experimental configuration is suitable for development into a 'closed-loop' energy storage experiment operating at a power level of approximately 1 kWchem.