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| New
Method Can Extract Hydrogen Gas Without Emitting CO2
Publication date: 28-November-2003
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| TOKYO
- A highly efficient method for extracting hhydrogen gas from a range of
organic materials without releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere
has been developed by a research team that includes members from Ishikawajima-Harima
Heavy Industries Ltd. (TSE:7013), JGC Corp. (TSE:1963) and the National
Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST).
The new process can obtain hydrogen from coal and biomass, plastics, oils and petroleum products like polyethylene with a conversion efficiency of 75 per cent. The hydrogen gas obtained from the process can be used as fuel for gas turbines and fuel cells. In the new procedure, coal and organic waste materials are placed in a reaction chamber with supercritical water, where they decompose into hydrogen and CO2. Hydrogen generation is promoted by the addition of calcium oxide, which converts the CO2 into calcium carbonate. The calcium carbonate is transferred to another chamber, where it is heated to regenerate CO2 and calcium oxide. The CO2 is trapped and the hot calcium oxide is returned to the reaction chamber, where its heat further boosts the efficiency of the hydrogen generation process. The prototype system has only a tiny reaction chamber, but next fiscal year the research team aims to build a larger experimental system that can process 50kg of organic material a day. |
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