Development of efficient photoreactors for solar hydrogen production

    Authors

    C. P. Huang; W. F. Yao; A. T-Raissi;N. Muradov

    Comments

    Authors: contact us about adding a copy of your work at STARS@ucf.edu

    Abbreviated Journal Title

    Sol. Energy

    Keywords

    Hydrogen; Solar energy; Photoreactor design; Photoreactor window; materials; Polymer films; PHOTOCATALYTIC DETOXIFICATION; WATER-TREATMENT; DISINFECTION; ENERGY; Energy & Fuels

    Abstract

    The rate of hydrogen evolution from a photocatalytic process depends not only on the activity of a photocatalyst, but also on photoreactor design. Ideally, a photoreactor should be able to absorb the incident light, promoting photocatalytic reactions in an effective manner with minimal photonic losses. There are numerous technical challenges and cost related issues when designing a large-scale photoreactor for hydrogen production. Active stirring of the photocatalyst slurry within a photoreactor is not practical in large-scale applications due to cost related issues. Rather, the design should allow facile self-mixing of the flow field within the photoreactor. In this paper two types of photocatalytic reactor configurations are studied: a batch type design and another involving passive self-mixing of the photolyte. Results show that energy loss from a properly designed photoreactor is mainly due to reflection losses from the photoreactor window. We describe the interplay between the reaction and the photoreactor design parameters as well as effects on the rate of hydrogen evolution. We found that a passive self-mixing of the photolyte is possible. Furthermore, the use of certain engineering polymer films as photoreactor window materials has the potential for substantial cost savings in large-scale applications, with minimal reduction of photon energy utilization efficiency. Eight window materials were tested and the results indicate that Aclar (TM) polymer film used as the photoreactor window provides a substantial cost saving over other engineering polymers, especially with respect to fused silica glass at modest hydrogen evolution rates. Published by Elsevier Ltd.

    Journal Title

    Solar Energy

    Volume

    85

    Issue/Number

    1

    Publication Date

    1-1-2011

    Document Type

    Article

    Language

    English

    First Page

    19

    Last Page

    27

    WOS Identifier

    WOS:000286866500004

    ISSN

    0038-092X

    Share

    COinS