This report focuses on the manufacturing of ceria tubes, the construction of a high-temperature radiant heater filament, and the implementation of a pressure measurement device. The manufacturing of ceria tubes includes the extrusion, the drying, and the sintering of the tubes. In addition, heating element filament construction consists of spot-welding certain metals together to create a device similar to that of a light bulb filament. Different methods were considered in each of these areas, and they are described in this report. All of the explorations in this document move towards the final device, a thermochemical reactor for the production of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO) from water (H2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2).
The results of this report indicate that there are several important manufacturing steps to create the most desirable results, in terms of tube manufacturing and heating element design. For the correct tube construction, they must be dried in a drying rack, and they must be sintered in V-groove plates. In addition, the results of the heating element manufacturing indicate that the ideal heating element filament needs to be simple in design (easily fixed), cost-effective, require little construction time, attach to the ends of the system easily, provide mechanical flexibility, and prevent the coil from touching the walls of the tube it lies in. Each aspect of the ideal elements, whether they are tubes or heating elements, is explored in this report.
Dr. Ivan Ermanoski has been working towards creating a thermochemical reactor for the purposes of hydrogen production for several years. After testing the initial design, there were found to be several areas in which possible improvements could be made. It is the purpose of this thesis project to look over the shortcomings of the previous reactor design and make improvements. The primary focus of these improvements centers around increasing the heat retention of the reactor, with a secondary focus on improving the workability and ease of construction for the reactor.
Ammonia is one of the most critical chemical commodities produced and is integral to a number of current industries such as agriculture as well as a key part to future sustainability areas such as clean H2 production. However, the current production methods for ammonia are largely unsustainable and produce large amounts of CO2 emissions. This combined with the current dependence on fossil energy for production has led to researchers attempting to develop a clean and sustainable method for ammonia production. This method involves the thermochemical looping of a nitride compound with H2, and the renitridation of the compound with N2. This thermochemical loop would significantly reduce pressure requirements for ammonia production in addition to only being reliant on renewable inputs. This paper expands and complements this research by detailing the methods for the synthesis of nitride compounds as well as confirming their structure through material characterization. The nitride compounds as well as their oxide precursors were synthesized through Pechini synthesis and co-precipitation, and their structure was confirmed through the use of X-ray diffraction analysis. The XRD patterns of the synthesized nitrides matched those previously synthesized as well as those found in literature. In addition, observation of the spectra for the oxide CoMoO4 showed a marked similarity to that of the oxide precursor for (NixCox)2Mo3N. However, further testing is necessary regarding the phase-purity of synthesized nitrides, as well as the reduction and renitridation capability of nitrides in the line of (NixCox)2Mo3N.