Research Igor Fedirchyk

Abstract

This project aims to develop a new process for NH3 cracking that may allow the implementation of an NH3-based H2 delivery infrastructure in Europe. The NH3 cracking will be studied by plasma technology, aiming for conversion above 99.5% and energy cost below 44 kJ/mol H2 achievable with the existing thermo-catalytic technology. The specific objectives are: 1) Investigation of optimal operating conditions in existing plasma reactors. Experiments will be performed in various plasma reactors available in PLASMANT. These systems performed favorably for other gas conversion applications but were not tested for NH3 cracking. We will evaluate their ability to reach the required NH3 decomposition rate, H2 yield, energy efficiency and energy cost for a wide range of plasma powers and flow rates. 2) Modelling the gas flow dynamics and plasma behaviour. To support the experiments, we will develop models for the gas flow dynamics and plasma behaviour inside the reactor for iterative testing and optimisation of improved reactor designs (cf. objective 4). 3) Modelling the plasma chemistry with a quasi-1D chemical kinetics model. We will elucidate the reaction kinetics behind NH3 cracking via plasma to better understand the underlying chemistry. A detailed kinetics model will offer new insight into the conversion process and allow further performance improvement. 4) Experimental evaluation of an improved plasma reactor and optimal operating conditions. Based on the experimental data (objective 1) and the models (objectives 2 and 3), we will develop an improved plasma reactor to decompose NH3 at lower energy cost than the existing plasma reactors.

Researcher(s)

• Promoter: Bogaerts Annemie
• Fellow: Fedirchyk Igor

Research team(s)

• Plasma Lab for Applications in Sustainability and Medicine - Antwerp (PLASMANT)

Project website

Project type(s)

• Research Project