MOSCOW, September 19. The technology for the production of hydrogen and hydrogen-containing mixtures from organic waste in a tubular pyrolysis reactor was improved by Siberian Federal University scientists as part of an international scientific team. According to the authors of the development, it is possible to increase production efficiency by improving heat exchange between the coolant and raw materials. The results were published in Energies.
Due to global warming and depletion of non-renewable natural resources, for sustainable energy development and ensuring environmental safety, the task of developing technologies for the capture, processing and disposal of industrial waste is becoming increasingly important, the authors of the work say.
One of the ways to process waste is the decomposition of organic waste. and many inorganic compounds into molecules of simpler substances under the influence of high temperature (pyrolysis). By pyrolysis, for example, you can obtain hydrogen from hydrocarbons.
Scientists from the Siberian Federal University (SFU), together with Russian and German colleagues, have modeled and experimentally proven that the efficiency of the production of hydrogen and hydrogen-containing mixtures in a pyrolysis reactor can be increased by increasing the contact area of the coolant with the raw material (organic industrial waste). The area was increased by applying hemispherical protrusions to the inner surface of the channel through which the coolant passes.
«
“A similar effect can be observed in everyday life when tea is cooled. When we pour tea from a cup into a saucer, the contact area increases and more intense heat transfer occurs,” said one of the leading authors of the study, junior researcher at the Laboratory of Biofuel Compositions of Siberian Federal University Oleg Kolenchukov.
According to him, the use of protrusions increases heat transfer by up to 11.5% and increases heat transfer by an average of 2.23 times. In addition, the protrusions create vortex formations inside the channel, which further enhances the heat exchange between the coolant and the raw material. By comparing heat transfer and hydraulic resistance, scientists determined the optimal combination of flow speed and protrusion height.
1 of 4
2 of 4
3 of 4
4 of 4
1 of 4
2 of 4
3 of 4
4 of 4
Increasing the efficiency of heat exchange has a positive effect on the quality of the resulting hydrogen-containing mixtures and the volumes of hydrogen produced, helps to reduce the size of reactors, and minimizes secondary decomposition reactions, thereby reducing the amount of pollutants formed during pyrolysis, say SFU.
< br />The research was carried out in the laboratory of biofuel compositions of Siberian Federal University under the state order of the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of Russia. The laboratory was created within the framework of the activities of the Scientific and Educational Center «Yenisei Siberia».
The activities of the REC «Yenisei Siberia», created on the basis of Siberian Federal University on the initiative of the Krasnoyarsk Territory, the Republics of Khakassia and Tyva, are aimed at improving the environmental situation in Russia and decarbonizing industry. The REC includes 9 universities, 5 research institutes and 14 industrial enterprises.