Hydrogen Production in a Radio-Frequency Plasma Source Operating on Water Vapor.

Abstract

The global energy and climate challenges have motivated development of innovative techniques to satisfy energy demand while minimizing emissions. To this end, hydrogen as an alternative energy carrier in the transportation sector is an attractive option. In addition, there is already a great need for hydrogen gas in several industrial processes such as hydro-cracking of crude oil to produce gasoline and production of ammonia and methanol. The current dominant methods of hydrogen production from fossil fuels are well-developed and have reached relatively high energy efficiencies (up to 85%), but these methods rely on non-renewable natural resources and produce carbon dioxide emissions. This work investigates the feasibility of hydrogen production by dissociating water molecules in a radio-frequency (RF) plasma discharge. In addition to the widespread usage of hydrogen gas, applications of water plasma have permeated in many areas of research, and information on basic behaviors of a water plasma discharge will provide fruitful insights for other researchers.

An RF plasma source equipped with a double-helix antenna (m = 1 mode) and an applied axial magnetic field is designed to operate on water vapor. It is shown that water molecules are being dissociated in the discharge. Experimental results show that the rate of hydrogen production increases linearly with RF power in the absence of the applied axial magnetic field. With the magnetic field, the rate of hydrogen production increases from 250 to 500 W, and begins to saturate with RF power. Despite this saturation, it is shown that hydrogen increases with magnetic field strength at a fixed RF power. Further, the rate of hydrogen production increases with water input flow rate up to 100 sccm for a fixed RF power level, and begins to decrease at 125 sccm. This dissertation characterizes the rate of hydrogen production and plasma properties as a function of RF power, applied B-field strength, and water input flow rate. A zero-dimensional kinetics model is used to determine the theoretical energy efficiency.