Grant: Strategic Projects Supplemental Competition

Hydrogen is one of the leading fuel candidates as our main source of energy for the future. Photocatalytic water-splitting for hydrogen production offers a promising way for the clean and environmentally-friendly production of hydrogen. However, presently, the energy conversion efficiency for this process is too low to make it economically sound. The overall objective of the proposed project is to develop an efficient process for all scales including industrial-scale photocatalytic hydrogen production. Most of the research work conducted so far on photocatalytic water-splitting for hydrogen production has employed powder suspensions or immobilized photo-catalysts, which have low efficiencies and, hence, can only be applied in small-scale units. In the proposed research, we will, for the first time, develop fluidized-bed photocatalytic reactors for hydrogen production. Fluidized-bed photocatalytic reactors offer significant advantages including efficient contact between the catalyst and the reactants, low mass transfer resistances, and efficient utilization of radiation energy due to catalyst circulation. In addition, fluidized-bed systems can be scaled up fairly straightforwardly to large pilot- and industrial-sized units or scaled down for portable application requirements. The general research approach is to develop new photocatalysts applicable to fluidization units and design novel multi-compartment fluidized-bed reactors, connected through a cation-exchange membrane for the separate evolution of hydrogen and oxygen. In addition, sophisticated models that enable simulation of the process, taking into account all the relevant phenomena will be developed for reactor performance prediction and scale up/down. The expected results of this study include the in-depth understanding of photocatalytic fluidized bed reactors as an alternative for hydrogen production and the development of reactor performance models for virtual prototyping and design optimization. This is expected to ultimately lead to more efficient, cost-effective and sustainable ways to produce hydrogen.