There is a growing interest in hydrogen energy utilization since an alternative energy development has been demanded due to the depletion of fossil fuels. Hydrogen is produced by the reforming reaction of natural gas and biogas, and the electrolysis of water. An solid oxide electrolyte cell (SOEC) is reversible system that generates hydrogen by electrolyzing the superheated steam or producing the electricity from a fuel cell by hydrogen. If the water can be converted into steam by waste heat from other processes it is more efficient for high-temperature electrolysis to convert steam directly. The reasons are based upon the more favorable thermodynamic and electrochemical kinetic conditions for the reaction. In the present study, steam at over 180℃ and 3.4 bars generated from a boiler were converted into superheated steam at over 700℃ and 3 bars using a cylindrical steam superheater as well as the waste heat of the exhaust gas at 900℃ from a solid refuse fuel combustor. Superheated steam at over 700℃ was then supplied to a high-temperature SOEC to increase the hydrogen production efficiency of water electrolysis. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis was conducted on the effects of the number of 90° elbow connector for piping, insulation types and insulation layers of pipe on the exit temperature using a commercial Fluent simulator. For two pre-heater injection method of steam inlet and ceramic wool insulation of 100 mm thickness, the highest inlet temperature of SOEC was 744℃ at 5.9 bar.

To utilize hydrogen energy, high-yield, high-purity hydrogen needs to be produced; therefore, hydrogen separation membrane studies are being conducted. The membrane reactor that fabricates hydrogen needs to have high hydrogen permeability, selective permeability, heatresistant and a stable mechanical membrane. Dense membranes of Pd and Pd alloys are usually used, but these have drawbacks associated with high cost and durability. Therefore, many researchers have studied replacing Pd and Pd alloys. Dense TiN membrane is highly selective and can separate high-purity hydrogen. The porous alumina has a high permeation rate but low selectivity; therefore, separating high-purity hydrogen is difficult. To overcome this drawback, the two materials are combined as composite reclamations to produce a separation membrane with a high penetration rate and high selectivity. Accordingly, TiN-alumina was manufactured using a high-energy ball mill. The TiN-alumina membrane was characterized by X-ray diffraction analysis, scanning electron microscopy, and energy dispersive spectroscopy. The hydrogen permeability of the TiN-alumina membrane was estimated by a Sievert-type hydrogen permeation membrane apparatus. Due to the change in the diffusion mechanism, the transmittance value was lower than that of the general TiN ceramic separator.

One of the technical methods to increase the volumetric energy density of hydrogen is to pressurize the gaseous hydrogen and then contain it in a rigid vessel. Especially for automotive systems, the compressed hydrogen storage can be found in cars as well as at refueling stations. During the charging the pressurized hydrogen into a vessel, the temperature increases with the amount of stored hydrogen in the vessel. The temperature of the vessel should be controlled to be less than a limitation for ensure stability of material. Therefore, the accurate estimation of temperature is of significance for safely storing the hydrogen. In this work, three well-known cubic equations of state (EOSs) were adopted to examine the accuracy in regenerating thermodynamic properties of hydrogen within the temperature and pressure ranges for the compressed hydrogen storage. The formulations representing molar volume, internal energy, enthalpy, and entropy were derived for Redlich-Kwong (RK), Soave-Redlioch-Kwong (SRK), and Peng-Robinson (PR) EOSs. The calculated results using the EOSs were compared with literature data given by NIST. It was revealed that the accuracies of RK and SRK EOSs were satisfactorily compatible and better than the results by PR EOS.

Recently, Type 2 high-pressure hydrogen storage tank is studied due to fast defect detection, easy manufacturing, and cost efficiency. Moreover, the dry winding a high-strength metal wire will make increased economic efficiency compare with the wet winding method and the carbon/glass fiber winding method. In this study, a theoretical study on the dry winding of a Type 2 high pressure hydrogen tank using a metal wire was done, and the equations of the total stress on the aligned and the staggered winding for the hoop winding were derived, and the following results were obtained by using these equations. As the diameter of the metal wire, the number of winding layers, and the outer diameter of the liner increase, the maximum stress decreases, but the difference between the maximum stress occurring in the aligned winding and the staggered winding increases. As the pressure increases, the thickness of the winding layer increases, but as the strength of the metal wire increases, the thickness of the winding layer decreases. In addition, regardless of the strength of the metal wire, the thickness of the winding layer of the staggered winding was about 13.4% thinner than that of the aligned winding.

In methanol steam reforming, commercial catalysts in the form of pellets are mainly used, but there are limitations to directly apply them to underwater weapon systems that require shock resistance and heat transfer characteristics. In this study, to overcome this problem, a multi-layer cup structure (MLCS) was applied to support a pellet type catalyst. The characteristics of pellet catalyst supported by MLCS and the pellet catalyst supported by conventional structure (CS) were compared by the reforming experiment. In the case of MLCS, a high methanol conversion rate was shown in the temperature range 200 to 300℃ relative to the CS manufactured with the same catalyst weight as MLCS. CS shown similar characteristics to MLCS when it manufactured in the same volume as MLCS by adding an additional 67% of the catalyst. In conclusions, MLCS can not only reduce catalyst usage by improving heat transfer characteristics, but also support pellet catalyst in multiple layers, thus improving shock resistance characteristics.

Hydrogen is evaluated as one of new energy sources that can overcome the limitations and pollution problems of conventional fossil fuels. Although hydrogen is free from CO2, attention is required in NOx emission and flame stability in order to use hydrogen in existing gas fuel system. This study investigates the differences in operating characteristics and its problems to be modified when the hydrogen is used as fuel for existing domestic boilers and new heat recover boilers with water spray. When the hydrogen is used in domestic boilers, the efficiency is about 6―7% lower than methane due to higher partial vapor pressure in the exhaust gas at usual operating conditions above 60℃ in combustion chamber outlet temperature. On the other hand, the heat recovery boiler with water spray (HR-B/WS-X) is expected to achieve up to 95% efficiency, which is 12% more efficient than conventional boilers. It can also significantly reduce NOx emission by lowering the flame temperature.

Fast pyrolysis is one of the most promising technologies for converting biomass to liquid fuels. Pyrolysis bio-oil can replace petroleum-based fuels used in various thermal conversion devices. However, pyrolysis bio-oil is completely different from petroleum fuels. Therefore, in order to successfully use pyrolysis bio-oil, it is necessary to understand the fuel characteristics of pyrolysis bio-oil. This paper focuses on fuel characteristics and upgrading methods of pyrolysis bio-oil and discusses how these fuel characteristics can be applied to the use of pyrolysis bio-oils. In addition, the fuel quality standards of fast pyrolysis bio-oil were examined.

This paper presents a thermodynamic performance analysis of a combined cycle consisting of regenerative organic Rankine cycle (ORC) and liquefied natural gas (LNG) Rankine cycle to recover low-grade heat source and the cold energy of LNG. The mathematical models are developed and the system performances are analyzed in the aspect of thermodynamics. The effects of the turbine inlet pressure and the working fluid on the system performance such as the mass flow rates, heat transfers at heat exchangers, power productions at turbines, and thermal efficiency are systematically investigated. The results show that the thermodynamic performance of ORC such as net power production and thermal efficiency can be significantly improved by the regenerative ORC and the LNG cold energy.

The Kalina cycle (KC) is considered as one of the most efficient systems for recovery of low grade heat. Recently, Kalina based power and cooling cogeneration cycles (KPCCCs) have been suggested and attracted much attention. This paper presents an energy and exergy analysis of a recently suggested KPCCC with flexible loads. The cycle consists of a KC (KCS-11) and an aqua-ammonia absorption refrigeration cycle. By adjusting the splitting ratios, the cycle can be operated with four modes of pure Kalina cycle, pure absorption cooling cycle, Kalina-cooling parallel cycle, and Kalina-cooling series cycle. The effects of system variables and the operating modes on the energetic and exergetic performances of the system are parametrically investigated. Results show that the system has great potential for efficient utilization of low-grade heat source by adjusting loads of power and cooling.

This study was conducted to analyze the impact of low level bio-alcohols that can be applied without modification of vehicles to improve air quality in Korea. The emissions and fuel economy of low level bio-alcohols mixed gasoline fuels of spark ignition vehicles, which are direct injection and port fuel injection, were studied in this paper. As a result of the evaluation, the particle number (PN) was reduced in all evaluation fuels compared to the sub octane gasoline without oxygen, but the correlation with the PN due to the increase in the oxygen content was not clear. In the CVS-75 mode, emitted CO tended to decrease compared to sub octane gasoline, but no significant correlation was found between NMHC, NOx and fuel economy. In addition, it was found that the aldehyde increased in the oxygenated fuel, and there was no difference in terms of the amount of aldehyde generated among a series of bio-alcohol mixed fuels.