The Sulfur-Iodine (SI) thermochemical hydrogen production process is one of the most promising thermochemical water splitting technologies. In the integrated operation of the SI process, the produced from a decomposition section could be supplied directly to the Bunsen reaction section without preliminary separation. A () solution could be also provided as the reactants in a Bunsen reaction section, since the sole separation of in a solution recycled from a HI decomposition section was very difficult. Therefore, the Bunsen reaction using mixture gases in the presence of the solution was carried out to identify the effect of . The amount of unreacted under the feed of mixture gases was little higher than that under the feed of gas only, and the amount of HI produced was relatively decreased. The in mixture gases also played a role to decrease the amount of a impurity in phase by only striping effect, while that in phase was hardly affected.

Mg and Mg-based alloys are regarded as strong candidate hydrogen storage materials since their hydrogen capacity exceeds that of known metal hydrides. One of the approaches to improve kinetic is addition of metal oxide. In this paper, we tried to improve the hydrogenation properties of Mg-based hydrogen storage composites. The effect of transition metal oxides, such as on the kinetics of the Magnesium hydrogen absorption kinetics was investigated. -5wt.% composites have been synthesized by hydrogen induced mechanical alloying. The powder fabricated was characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscopy (Fe-SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray (EDX), BET and simultaneous Thermo Gravimetric Analysis / Differential Scanning Calorimetry (TG/DSC) analysis. The Absorption / desorption kinetics of -5wt.% (type I and II) are determined at 423, 473, 523, 573 and 623 K.

Ceria () was used to scavenge free radicals which attack the membrane in the polymer electrolyte membrane water electrolysis (PEMWE) circumstance and to increase the duration of the membrane. In order to improve the electrochemical, mechanical and electrocatalytic characteristics, engineering plastic of the sulfonated polyether ether ketone (SPEEK) as polymer matrix was prepared in the sulfonation reaction of polyether ether ketone (PEEK) and the organic-inorganic blended composite membranes were prepared by sol-gel casting method with loading the highly dispersed ceria and cesium-substituted tungstophosphoric acid (Cs-TPA) with cross-linking agent contents of 0.01 mL. In conclusion, CL-SPEEK/Cs-TPA/ceria (1%) membrane showed the optimum results such as 0.130 S/cm of proton conductivity at , 2.324 meq./g-dry-membrane of ion exchange capacity and mechanical characteristics, and 65.03 MPa of tensile strength which were better than Nafion 117 membrane.

In this paper, a three-dimensional hydrogen absorption model is applied to a thin double-layered annulus ZrCo hydride bed and validated against the temperature evolution data measured by Kang et al. The present model reasonably captures the bed temperature evolution behavior and the 99% hydrogen charging time. The equilibrium pressure expression for hydrogen absorption on ZrCo is derived as a function of temperature and the H/M atomic ratio based on the pressure-composition isotherm data given by Konishi et al. In addition, this present model provides multi-dimensional contours such as temperature and H/M atomic ratio in the thin doublelayered annulus metal hydride region. This numerical study provides fundamental understanding during hydrogen absorption process and indicates that efficient design of the metal hydride bed is critical to achieve rapid hydrogen charging performance. The present three-dimensional hydrogen absorption model is a useful tool for the optimization of bed design and operating conditions.

This work describes the hydriding chemical vapor synthesis (HCVS) of the in a hydrogen atmosphere and the product`s hydriding-dehydridng properties. Mg powder was used as a starting material to synthesize and uniformly heated to a temperature of for Mg vaporization. The effects of hydrogen pressure on the morphology and the composition of HCVS- were examined by using X-ray diffraction (XRD) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). It is clearly seen that after the HCVS process, the particle size of synthesized was drastically reduced to the submicron or micrometer-scale and these showed different shapes (needle-like nanofibers and angulated plate) depending on the hydrogen pressure. It was found that after the HCVS process, the desorption temperature of HCVS- decreased from 380 to , and the minimum hydrogen desorption tempreature of HCVS- powder with needle-like shape can be obtained. In addition, the enhanced hydrogen storage performance for needle-like was achieved during subsequent hydriding-dehydriding cycles.

Multi-block sulfonated poly (arylene ether sulfone) (SPES) membranes were synthesized by post-sulfonation and its properties characterized. Two types of oligomers, F-terminated and OH-terminated telechelic oligomers, were synthesized by controlling the feed ratio of dihydroxyl- and difluoro-monomers. Their number of repeating unit (X and Y) was analyzed by GPC and NMR. Copolymerization with F-terminated and OH-terminated telechelic oligomers via nucleophilic aromatic substitution, gave high-molecular-weight multi-block PESs. Each block length was controlled to have different values with X5Y10, X10Y10, X20Y10 and X20Y20. Successful polymerization and its successful sulfonation was confirmed by GPC and NMR. RH dependence of proton conductivity of multi-block SPES membranes was comparable to that of Nafion 212 at high RH conditions.

A proper stacking force and assembly are important to the performance of fuel cell. Improper assembly pressure may lead to leakage of fuels and high interfacial contact resistance, excessive assembly pressure may result in damage to the gas diffusion layer and other components. The pressure distribution of gas diffusion layer is important to make interfacial contact resistance less for stack performance. To analyze the influence of design parameter factors for pressure distribution, and to optimize stack design, DOE (Design of Experiment) was used for polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell stack pressure test. As commonly known, the higher clamping force improves the fuel cell stack performance. However, non-uniformity of stress distribution is also increased. It shows that optimization between clamping force and stress distribution is needed for well designed structure of fuel cell stack. In this study, stack design optimization method is suggested by using FEM (Finite Element Methode) and DOE for light-weighted fuel cell stack.

Proper water management is crucial for the efficient operation of polymer electrolyte membrane (PEM) fuel cell. Especially, for automotive applications, A novel water management that can avoid both membrane dry-out and flooding is a very important task to achieve good performance and efficiency of PEM fuel cells. The aim of this study is to investigate the liquid water behavior on the gas diffusion layer (GDL) surface and in the cathode flow channel of a PEM unit fuel cell under flooding conditions. For this purpose, a transparent unit fuel cell is devised and fabricated by modifying the conventional PEM fuel cell design. The results of water droplet behavior under flooding conditions are mainly presented. The water distributions in the cathode flow channels with cell operating voltage are also compared and analyzed. Through this work, it is expected that the data obtained from this fundamental study can be effectively used to establish the basic water management strategy in terms of water removal from the flow channels in a PEM fuel cell stack.

The TMS(Thermal Management System) heater in a fuel cell vehicle has been developed to prevent a decline of fuel cell durability and cold start durability. Main functions of the COD(Cathode Oxygen Depletion) heater are depletion of oxygen in a cathode as heat energy and consumption of electric power for rapid warming up of a fuel cell stack. This paper covers subjects including the design specification of a heater, heater controller for detection of overheat and reliability assessment including coolant pressure cycle test of a heater. To verify the design concept, burst pressure and deformation analysis of plastic housing were carried out. Also, temperature distribution analysis of heater surface and coolant inside of housing were carried out to verify the design concept. By designing the plastic housing instead of a steel housing, the 30% weight lightening and 50% cost reduction were attained. A module-based design of a TMS system including a heater or reducing the watt density of a heater is a problem to be solved in the near future work.

Syngas laminar burning velocity measurements were carried out at atmospheric pressure and ambient temperature using the Bunsen flame configuration with nozzle burner as a fundamental study on flame stability of syngas fuel. Representative syngas mixture compositions (:CO) such as 25:75%, 50:50% and 75:25% and equivalence ratios from 0.5 to 1.4 have been conducted. Average laminar burning velocities have been determined by the stabilized nozzle burner flames using the angle method, radical surface area method and compared with the data obtained from the other literatures. And the results of each experimental methodologies in the various composition ratios and equivalence ratios were coincided with the result of numerical simulation. Especially, it was confirmed that there was necessary to choice a more accurate measurement methodology even the same static flame method for the various composition ratios of syngas fuel including hydrogen. Also, it was reconfirmed that the laminar burning velocities gradually increased with the increasing of hydrogen content in a fuel mixture.

There is a new power generation system such as direct coal fuel cell (DCFC) with a solid oxide electrolyte operated at relatively high temperature. In the system, it is of great importance to feed coal continuously into anodic electrode surface for its better contact, otherwise it would reduce electrochemical conversion of coal. For that purpose, it is required to improve the electrochemical conversion efficiency by using either rigorous mixing condition such as fluidized bed condition or just by recirculating coal particle itself successively into the reaction zone of the system. In this preliminary study, we followed the second approach to investigate how significantly particle recycle would affect the coal conversion efficiency. As a first phase, coal conversion was analyzed and evaluated from the thermochemical reaction of carbon with air under particle recirculating condition. The coal conversion efficiency was obtained from raw data measured by two different techniques. Effects of temperature and fuel properties on the coal conversion are specifically examined from the thermochemical reaction.

The electrochemical reaction of refuse derived fuel (RDF) and refuse plastic/paper fuel (RPF) was investigated in the direct carbon fuel cell (DCFC) system. The open circuit voltage (OCV) of RPF was higher than RDF and other coals because of its thermal reactive characteristic under carbon dioxide. The thermal reactivity of fuels was investigated by thermogravimetric analysis method. and the reaction rate of RPF was higher than other fuels. The behavior of all sample`s potential was analogous in the beginning region of electrochemical reactions due to similar functional groups on the surface of fuels analyzed by X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy experiments. The potential level of RDF and RPF decreased rapidly comparing to coals in the next of the electrochemical reaction because the surface area and pore volume investigated by nitrogen gas adsorption tests were smaller than coals. This characteristic signifies the contact surface between electrolyte and fuel is restricted. The potential of fuels was maintained to the high current density region over 40 by total carbon component. The maximum power density of RDF and RPF reached up to 45~70% comparing to coal. The obvious improvement of maximum power density by increasing operating temperature was observed in both refuse fuels.

Since the energy demand for refrigeration and air-conditioning has greatly increased all over the world, thermally activated refrigeration cycle has attracted much attention. This study carries out a performance analysis of a vapor compression cycle (VCC) driven by organic Rankine cycle (ORC) utilizing low-temperature heat source in the form of sensible heat. The ORC is assumed to produce minimum net work which is required to drive the VCC without generating an excess electricity. Effects of important system parameters such as turbine inlet pressure, condensing temperature, and evaporating temperature on the system variables such as mass flow ratio, net work production, and coefficient of performance (COP) are thoroughly investigated. The effect of choice of working fluid on COP is also considered. Results show that net work production and COP increase with increasing turbine inlet pressure or decreasing condensing temperature. Out of the five kinds of organic fluids considered gives a relatively high COP in the range of low turbine inlet pressure.

This work experimentally investigates that Diesel-DME blended fuel influences combustion characteristics and emissions (NOx, CO, HC, smoke) in a single-cylinder DI diesel engine. Diesel is used as a main fuel and DME is blended for the use of its quick evaporating characteristics. Diesel and DME are blended by the method of weight ratio. Weight ratios for Diesel and DME are 95:5 and 90:10 respectively and the both ratios have been used altogether in blended fuel. The experiments are conducted in this study single cylinder engine is equipped with common rail and injection pressure is 700 bar at 1200 rpm. The amount of injected fuels is adjusted to obtain the fixed input calorie value as 972.2 J/cycle in order to compare with the fuel conditions. DME is compressed to 15 bar by using nitrogen gas thus it can be maintained the liquid phase. In this study, different system compared others paper is common rail system, also there is combustion and emission about compared DME and diesel fuel. It is expected to be utilized about blended fuel.

The bubbles made of hydrogen and oxygen gases producted by electrolysis disturb the electrolysis, but the behavior of these bubbles in the electrolysis stack isn`t clearly defined. In order to study on the behavior of bubbles in the flow pattern of the meshes type separator, the flow visualization experiment was performed by using of a visible alkaline electrolysis stack and a stereoscopic microscope. As the results, a fine size bubbles adhered to the separator`s surface in the electrolyte solution have grown large sized bubbles until each bubble`s buoyance is lager than the sum of surface adhesion force and weight. And then the large bubbles flow into the upper area of the separator. Also, as wide area of the separator have been occupied by various sized bubbles, the electrolysis efficiency is declined.

This work is for the design study of natural gas reformer (40 over). We used experimental kinetic data from literature. After that, we set up theoretical model based on experimental reaction kinetic data. The shape of reactor is 1.7 m long and 200 mm dia. with cylinder geometry. Volume of reactor is 53.4 liter. Average flow velocity of gases in the reactor has been determined 0.272 m/sec and residence time is 9.26 sec. Reaction temperature is , with pressure 9.3 Bar. Used natural gas volume is about 9.21 . Produced hydrogen is 43.7 with no change of pressure. Unreacted natural gas is 0.09 and the amount of steam is 26.9 . Steam to (s/c ratio) is 2.91. Reforming reaction take place from the reactor entrance to 120 cm region of cylinder type reactor. After the entrance of reacting gases to 120 cm region, the reaction reaches equilibrium which is close to products. This study can be applicable to design various reactors. Output data is in good agreements with the data in literatures1).

Due to high oil prices and global warming problems, researching an alternative energy source and decreasing the energy usage will be the key in the future. Unlike other alternative energy sources, geothermal energy is less dependent on the surrounding environment. Geothermal energy is the ideal energy source for buildings due to the simple and space saving installation. The system is semi permanent once it is installed and this will help reduce the energy usage in controlling the climate in buildings. Geothermal energy does not emit carbon dioxide and other gases that are harmful to the environment. Therefore geothermal energy will be the key in solving high oil prices and a decrease in fossil fuels by applying the geothermal energy system to homes to counter future energy crisis.

Dimethyl ether (DME) is a new clean fuel as an environmentally-benign energy resource. DME can be manufactured from various energy sources including natural gas, coal, and biomass. In addition to its environmentally friendly properties, DME has similar characteristics to those of LPG. The aim of this article is to represent the development of new DME process with KOGAS`s own technologies. KOGAS has investigated and developed new innovative DME synthesis process from synthesis gas in gaseous phase fixed bed reactor. DME has been traditionally produced by the dehydration of methanol which is produced from syngas, a product of natural gas reforming. This traditional process is thus called the two-step method of preparing DME. However, DME can also be manufactured directly from syngas (single-step). The single-step method needs only one reactor for the synthesis of DME, instead of two for the two-step process. It can also alleviate the thermodynamic limitations associated with the synthesis of methanol, by converting the produced methanol into DME, thereby potentially enhancing the overall conversion of syngas into DME. KOGAS had launched the 10 ton/day DME demonstration plant project in 2004 at Incheon KOGAS LNG terminal. In the mid of 2008, KOGAS had finished the construction of this plant and has successively finished the demonstration plant operation. And since 2008, we have established the basic design of commercial plant which can produce 3,000 ton/day DME.