Thermodynamics of Aqueous-Phase Reforming of Glycerol for Hydrogen Production

• Main Author: Mukarramah Binti Samsu, Mukarramah
• Format: Final Year Project
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2011
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/460/

This report basically focuses on the detailed thermodynamics analysis of aqueous-phase reforming (APR) process. This project is aimed to study the feasibility of APR process of glycerol for hydrogen production. In this contribution, the feasibility of hydrogen production at low temperature and high pressure system is studied by focusing on the thermodynamics analysis of aqueous-phase system considering both the reaction and the phase equilibrium of the system. The thermodynamics equilibrium analysis is performed at temperature range of 300K to 500K, pressure range of 15 bar to 50 bar, and water-toglycerol feed ratio range of 0 to 5. There are six species that had been considered in the study which involved glycerol, water, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, hydrogen and methane. The considered phases involved a vapor and a liquid. Gibbs free energy minimization method is applied in order to determine the equilibrium concentration of the species. It was found that the APR process mainly produced methane and carbon dioxide making it not feasible for production of hydrogen.