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Cyclohexane Dehydrogenation in Solar-Driven Hydrogen Permeation Membrane Reactor for Efficient Solar Energy Conversion and Storage

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Abstract

Cyclohexane dehydrogenation in the solar-driven membrane reactor is a promising method of directly producing pure hydrogen and benzene from cyclohexane and storing low-grade solar energy as high-grade chemical energy. In this paper, partial pressure of gases, conversion rate of cyclohexane, and energy efficiency of the reactor are analyzed based on numerical simulation. The process of cyclohexane dehydrogenation under four temperatures (200°C, 250°C, 300°C, and 350°C) and four permeate pressures (0.050 MPa, 0.025 MPa, 0.010 MPa, and 0.001 MPa) were studied. A complete conversion rate (99.9%) of cyclohexane was obtained as the reaction equilibrium shifts forward with hydrogen separation. The first-law thermodynamic efficiency, solar-to-fuel efficiency, and exergy efficiency could reach as high as 94.69%, 46.93% and 93.08%, respectively. This study indicates that it is feasible to combine solar energy supply technology with cyclohexane dehydrogenation reaction integrated with membrane reactor.

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Abbreviations

C p :

specific heat capacity/kJ·(mol·K)−1

d M :

membrane thickness/m

Ex :

exergy/kJ·mol−1

ΔG :

Gibbs free energy/J·mol−1

HHV:

molar higher heating value/kJ·mol−1

ΔH :

enthalpy change/kJ·mol−1

J :

hydrogen permeation flux/mol/(m2·s)−1

K p :

reaction equilibrium constant/Pa3

P :

pressure/MPa

P 0 :

atmosphere pressure/MPa

Q rg :

solar thermal energy input for raising reactant temperature/kJ

Q th :

enthalpy change of cyclohexane dehydrogenation/kJ

Q sh :

thermal energy out of reactor/kJ

R :

universal gas constant/J·(mol·K)−1

r c :

kinetic reaction rate/mol·s−1

ΔS :

entropy of reactions/J·(mol·K)−1

T 0 :

room temperature/K

T h :

reaction temperature/K

T sun :

temperature of the sun surface/K

ηabs :

absorption efficiency

ηex :

exergy efficiency

ηHHV :

first-law thermodynamic efficiency with separation exergy

ηHHV,real :

first-law thermodynamic efficiency with real separation energy

ηopt :

optical efficiency

ηp :

vacuum pump efficiency

ηs→e :

photoelectric efficiency

ηs→f :

solar-to-fuel efficiency with separation exergy

ηs→f,real :

solar-to-fuel efficiency with real separation energy

⊖:

standard state

in:

input, inside

init:

initial

out:

output, outside

p:

pump

rg:

reactant gas

res:

residual gas

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Acknowledgment

This work is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No. 51906179), the China Scholarship Council (No. 201906275035), and the National Key Research and Development Program of China (No. 2018YFC0808401).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. MOE Key Laboratory of Hydrodynamic Machinery Transients, Ministry of Education, School of Power and Mechanical Engineering, Wuhan University, Hubei, 430072, China

    Xiaochuan Wang, Bingzheng Wang & Hongsheng Wang

  2. Department of Chemical System Engineering, School of Engineering, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, 113–8656, Japan

    Hongsheng Wang

  3. China Pingmei Shenma Energy and Chemical Group Corporation Limited, Henan, 476000, China

    Man Wang & Qingjun Liu

Authors
  1. Xiaochuan Wang
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  2. Bingzheng Wang
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  5. Hongsheng Wang
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Correspondence to Hongsheng Wang.

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Wang, X., Wang, B., Wang, M. et al. Cyclohexane Dehydrogenation in Solar-Driven Hydrogen Permeation Membrane Reactor for Efficient Solar Energy Conversion and Storage. J. Therm. Sci. 30, 1548–1558 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-021-1392-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11630-021-1392-9

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