Thermal Solar Plant for Methane/Hydrogen Mixtures Production

  IJETT-book-cover  International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology (IJETT)          
  
© 2018 by IJETT Journal
Volume-62 Number-2
Year of Publication : 2018
Authors : Giampaolo Caputo, Irena Balog, Domenico Mazzei
DOI :  10.14445/22315381/IJETT-V62P216

Citation 

MLA Style: Giampaolo Caputo, Irena Balog, Domenico Mazzei "Thermal Solar Plant for Methane/Hydrogen Mixtures Production" International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology 62.2 (2018): 106-112.

APA Style:Giampaolo Caputo, Irena Balog, Domenico Mazzei (2018). Thermal Solar Plant for Methane/Hydrogen Mixtures Production International Journal of Engineering Trends and Technology, 62(2), 106-112.

Abstract
The massive use of hydrogen as an energy vector would be the last step towards the energy decarbonisation process, solving the greenhouse gases and pollutantemissions in our industrial and civil systems. On the other hand, technological development of the production processes, storage, distribution and use of hydrogen is still quite far from a real competitiveness compared to traditional fossil fuels. Up to now, there is no market for hydrogen as an energy carrier. In near future, hydrogen economy could replace fossil fuels, even if the environmental and societal issues related to energy production are perceived as urgent where solutions are absolutely required. Enriched methane could be an intermediate step able to introduce hydrogen in our energy systems, using the consolidated natural gas infrastructures at competitive costs and leading to a significant reduction of the pollution immediately applicable and without high structural costs: the new blend is a necessary step towards the “dream of hydrogen”. An innovative hybrid plant, composed by a solar section for heating up a molten salt stream through a Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plant, a chemical section for the production of mixture Hydrogen/Methane, and an electrical section for the electricity production by a Rankine Cycle unit is presented. The core of the process is the CSP plant. The molten salt stream is heated up to 550 °C by the CSP plant, then it supplies the reforming process heat duty and generates electricity.

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Keywords
Solar energy, Methane/Hydrogen, Thermal Storage, Automotive, Fuel