Grant: Strategic Projects Supplemental Competition

Due to rapid depletion of hydrocarbon-based energy resources and their harmful effects on the environment, there is an urgent need to seek alternative and sustainable energy sources. Solar energy is a potential candidate to fulfill the global energy demand, however, due to the unpredictable nature of the solar energy availability, it is not considered as a reliable source of continuous energy supply. Of the alternate fuels tested or proposed, hydrogen is a potential substitute to the conventional fuels with no harmful effects on the environment. The hydrogen production from water by utilizing solar energy is the cleanest form of the hydrogen production. The proposed project focuses on the development of a novel concentrated solar energy system for clean hydrogen production. One of the key challenges this project is addressing is to increase the yield of hydrogen production, which currently is one of the major obstacles from the economic feasibility aspect of cleanhydrogen production. The other key issue is to reduce the reaction temperature which would allow the efficient operation of solar hydrogen production units in Canadian climate which is outside the so-called sun-belt region. A novel approach using nanotechnology will be used to improve the thermo-chemical reaction process of hydrogen production from water at low temperatures. The specific objectives of the proposed project are (i) to quantify the hydrogen production using nanometal oxide/water reactions, (ii) to develop new nano-particle metals without the presence of oxide layer, and (iii) to improve the design of the solar reactor. The success of this project will advance the development of renewable solar resource technology and the implementation of hydrogen as a fuel in the future energy economy, which will contribute to the on going efforts of Canadian public and private sectors to switch to cleaner fuels and reduce harmful gas emissions.