Hydrogen Production: creating an
efficient industry.
Liora Berkovich, Jannik Fritz, Guillem Rivas, Hagai Shechter
Today’s situation
- 100 billion dollars industry.[1]
- Not green.
- Expansive to transport.
- 65%-80% energy efficienct of the
production.[2]
Where do we use it?
-
Ammonia Production.
Coolant.
Welding.
Leak cheaking.
Weather Baloons.
Fission Research.
& more...[3]
H2 as a FUEL
4-5 $/Kg
What is our goal?
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
- Make it transportable and storeable.
- Produce H2 cheaply.
Our method
Plants → Sugar
Sugar + Enzyme→
Hydrogen →
H2+ Sugar mixture → Safe!
[4]
Step 0: Harvesting
- 2500$ for 1 hectare (10,000 m2) of
salicornia bigelovii (plant).
- Total 2.5 tonnes of seeds per
hectare.
- 20 tonnes of hydrogen per hectare
approximately.
1st Step - extracting sugar
- Seperate lignin from cellulose to obtain
sugar.
- 92% of the mass of the plant is sugar.
- 26% of the sugar is xylose.
2nd Step - producing hydrogen
combine xylose with
enzymes at 50 Co
rate of production:
1.95 mmol/h/l
after 20 hours: 9.5
mol/1mol of xylose
C5H10O5 + 5H2O→10H2 + 5CO2
13 enzymes needed
ratio between CO2 and H2 is 1:2
3rd Step - storing hydrogen
- Hydrogen is mixed with
starch, making it solid.
- Enzymes are used to
seperate them again.
- 1kg of starch contains
200g of H2
Application in the industry
5.64kg H2 to drive
600km
A tank capacity
30kg of starch & H2
Comparison of costs
H2 production by steam H2 production by sugar.
reforming
costs between 3-5$
(depending on purity)
enzymes for separation: 0.03-0.05$
+production costs of H2: 0.05$
+construction costs, distribution, etc.:
ca. 0.75$
-----------------------------------------------= 1$ maximum instead.
Conclusion
- cheaper hydrogen.
- 100% pure hydrogen.
- a greener production.
Our Calculations
References
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/anie.201300766/full
http://www.vt.edu/spotlight/innovation/2012-02-27-fuels/zhang.html
http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nn5051954
http://phys.org/news/2014-09-harvesting-hydrogen-fuel-sun-earthabundant.html#inlRlv
http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00253-012-4456-7#page-1
http://hydrogengarage.com/pdf/BUBBLES4.pdf
http://www.miracosta.edu/home/kmeldahl/writing/..%5Carticles/crops.pdf
http://www.energypost.eu/exclusive-report-boeing-reveals-biggestbreakthrough-biofuels-ever/