Grant: Discovery Grants Program - Individual

In this program, the work aims to develop renewable energy-based integrated systems where renewable energy sources are employed to produce services in terms of useful commodities needed for Indigenous communities in Canada; integrate hydrogen production subsystems using the electrolysis (alkaline, anion exchange membrane, solid oxide) and thermochemical methods (modified Mg-Cl cycle, Boron based Mg-Cl2 cycle and Na-OH) for clean hydrogen and ammonia production with CO2 capturing from the atmosphere (and utilization in CaCO3); analyze, model and simulate the integrated energy systems using thermochemical, electrochemical, energy, exergy, exergoeconomic, exergoenvironmental, sustainability, life cycle costing and life cycle assessment methods; build and test lab scale-prototypes for hydrogen and ammonia production and model validation; and perform performance assessment through energy and exergy methods, and optimization and scale-up studies for the Indigenous communities identified in Canada. The first phase focuses on the conceptual development and design of novel integrated thermochemical cycles using solar energy. The systems are expected to provide useful outputs, ranging hydrogen to electricity with carbon capturing options. Also, the systems will have novel heat storage options incorporated into the integrated systems to offset the mismatch between demand and supply where solar energy is used. The second phase deals with the modeling and analyses of processes that can be encountered in the integrated systems, covering micro- and macro-level and multi-dimensional modeling; and thermodynamic (energetically and exergetically), fluid flow, chemical, thermochemical, electrochemical, photochemical, heat and mass transfer analyses (in both steady and unsteady forms depending on the process). The third phase involves lab-scale experiments and proof of concept testing on various designs of the proposed integrated cycles of NaOH with carbon capturing options from air. Furthermore, key processes of these integrated systems are studied in more detail through proof of concept testing. The fourth phase deals with multi-objective optimization and scale-up studies, and performance assessment (through energy and exergy efficiencies, exergoeconomics, enviroeconomics and other performance metrics), as well as improvements of the integrated systems developed and tested. This is done based on multi-objective criteria including minimization of exergy destructions, costs and environmental impacts, and increasing efficiency and sustainability, etc. Economic, environmental, ecological and sustainability performances are studied through cost parameters, indexes, impact criteria and life cycle impact categories.