KR101577525B1 - Liquid purification system for seawater electrolysis - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility, which comprises a gas-liquid separator for separating a gas and a liquid generated by decomposing seawater, and a gas-liquid separator for separating the gas- And a gas purifying unit for purifying the specific gas with high purity.
The present invention relates to a seawater electrolytic apparatus for preventing the attachment of marine microorganisms to a cooling water system by generating sodium hypochlorite through electrolysis of seawater in a power plant unlike the prior art, And supply it to the fuel cell, it is possible to produce stable electric power.

Description

[0001] LIQUID PURIFICATION SYSTEM FOR SEAWATER ELECTROLYSIS [0002]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility, and more particularly, to a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility which comprises a water electrolysis facility for generating sodium hypochlorite through electrolysis of seawater in a power plant, The present invention relates to a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility to be purified and supplied to a fuel cell for high purity of produced by-product hydrogen.

Fuel cells are electrochemical devices that convert the chemical energy of a fuel directly into electric energy. Normally, an electrolyte is inserted between two electrodes made of a fuel electrode and an air electrode. According to the classification of the fuel cell, a polymer electrolyte membrane fuel cell (operating temperature: 60 ° C-80 ° C), an alkali fuel cell using potassium hydroxide (operating temperature: 70 ° C - 120 ° C), a sulfuric acid- Solid oxide fuel cells using a fuel cell (operating temperature 160 ° C - 200 ° C), a molten carbonate fuel cell using lithium / potassium carbonate (operating temperature 650 ° C) and YSZ, yttria-stabilized zirconia Temperature 1000 占 폚). The operating temperature of the fuel cell greatly depends on which electrolyte is selected.

Particularly, in Korean Patent No. 10-01142474 (entitled " Polymer Electrolyte Fuel Cell System "), a technique of using fuel as a fuel for fuel cells using byproduct hydrogen generated as a byproduct in a seawater electrolysis facility or a waste treatment facility of a power plant Has been proposed.

In addition, Korean Patent Laid-Open No. 10-2012-0114182 (entitled "Seawater electrolytic and fuel cell hybrid facility") separates the by-produced hydrogen produced by electrolysis of seawater, There has been proposed a technique of producing high purity hydrogen and supplying it to a fuel cell.

Existing electrolytic fuel cell system is a system that separates hydrogen generated from an electrolytic cell and sodium hypochlorite by gas-liquid separation, stores sodium hypochlorite, and passes by-pass hydrogen through a filter to remove water-soluble gas and supplies it to the fuel cell. There is a problem that the by-produced hydrogen mixed with the oxygen generated by the side reaction is supplied to the fuel cell to lower the efficiency of the fuel cell.

In addition, the conventional seawater electrolytic and fuel cell hybrid facilities have a problem in that water-soluble gas production efficiency is lowered due to long-term operation of the sea water electrolytic facility, and as a result, the amount of oxygen generated is further increased, The efficiency of the fuel cell is lowered.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been conceived in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility for producing power stably by supplying high- have.

The seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to the present invention comprises: a gas-liquid separator for separating a gas and a liquid generated by decomposing seawater; and a gas-liquid separator for separating the liquid and the gas, And a gas purification treatment unit for purifying the specific gas with high purity.

As an example, the gas purifying unit may include a bubbling unit for removing a water-soluble gas such as chlorine contained in a gas component separated from the gas-liquid separator, an impurity gas such as oxygen in a specific gas passing through the bubbling unit, And a moisture eliminator for removing moisture in the specific gas passing through the oxygen elimination catalytic reactor.

The gas-liquid separator may connect the liquid reservoir to store the separated liquid.

A pressure regulator may be provided between the gas-liquid separator and the liquid reservoir to regulate the pressure in the gas-liquid separator.

The gas-liquid separator may have an internal port, and may include a partition having an internal opening corresponding to an upper side of the port.

The gas-liquid separator connects the seawater electrolytic cell to the front side, and can be equipped with or connected to a hydrophobic catalytic reactor.

Preferably, the oxygen scavenging catalyst reactor is filled with a hydrophobic catalyst.

It is preferable that the oxygen elimination catalytic reactor reduces the amount of heat generated by the cooling water injected from the cooling water injector.

The moisture remover may be located between the bubbling unit and the oxygen scavenging catalytic reactor.

The bubbling unit may receive moisture produced in the electricity production reaction or moisture produced in the oxygen removal catalyst reactor in the fuel cell.

The bubbling unit may be integrated with the oxygen scavenging catalyst reactor to receive the impurity gas and simultaneously remove the water-soluble gas and oxygen in the specific gas.

The separated specific gas may be branched and connected to the rear end of the gas-liquid separator and the front end of the gas purification unit through a circulation line.

As another example, the gas purifier may include a bubbling machine for removing a water-soluble gas contained in the gas component separated from the gas-liquid separator, a gas adsorber for adsorbing impurity gas in the specific gas passing through the bubbling machine, And a moisture eliminator that removes moisture in the specific gas that has passed through the gas.

As another example, the gas purifying unit may include a bubbling unit for removing a water-soluble gas contained in the gas component separated from the gas-liquid separator, a gas adsorber for adsorbing impurity gas in the specific gas passing through the bubbling unit, An oxygen scavenging catalytic reactor which reacts with the impurity gas in the specific gas to convert it into water in order to further purify the specific gas having passed through the oxygen scavenging catalytic reactor, and a moisture eliminator which removes moisture in the specific gas passing through the oxygen scavenging catalytic reactor.

The gas adsorber is composed of a plurality of chambers, and while some of the chambers refine the impurity gas in a specific gas, the other chambers can perform regeneration through desorption.

The chamber for regeneration through desorption can utilize the heat energy necessary for desorption to generate heat from the fuel cell.

Further, the gas purification treatment section may be configured to include a bubbling machine, a gas adsorber, an oxygen scavenging catalyst reactor, and a water eliminator.

As described above, the seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to the present invention improves the lifetime of the fuel cell and the performance of the equipment by refining and discarding the discarded by-product hydrogen and supplying it to the fuel cell. The power can be produced stably.

1 is a configuration diagram of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to a first embodiment of the present invention.
2 is a configuration diagram of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to a second embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a configuration diagram of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid plant according to a third embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a configuration diagram of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a configuration diagram of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a configuration diagram of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a gas adsorber of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid plant according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, embodiments of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. In this process, the thicknesses of the lines and the sizes of the components shown in the drawings may be exaggerated for clarity and convenience of explanation. In addition, the terms described below are defined in consideration of the functions of the present invention, which may vary depending on the intention or custom of the user, the operator. Therefore, definitions of these terms should be made based on the contents throughout this specification.

1 is a configuration diagram of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a combined system for a sea water electrolytic fuel cell according to the first embodiment of the present invention includes a gas-liquid separator 50 and a gas purification treatment unit 100.

Particularly, seawater is supplied through the seawater supply section 10. Here, the seawater supply unit 10 includes a seawater pump, a seawater supply pipe, and the like.

The seawater supplied through the seawater supply unit 10 passes through the pretreatment filter 20. Thus, the seawater is filtered by the pretreatment filter 20, such as impurities. At this time, the pre-processing filter 20 includes a screen, a filter, a strainer, and the like for filtering suspended solids from the incoming seawater.

Thereafter, the seawater is supplied to the seawater electrolytic bath 30. The seawater electrolytic bath 30 electrolyzes the seawater, and is composed of both positive and negative electrodes. Particularly, the seawater electrolytic bath 30 may have a structure in which meshed or plate-shaped electrodes are arranged alternately in the inside, or may have a cylindrical electrolytic bath configuration in which cylindrical electrodes having different circumferences are arranged concentrically.

In addition, a rectifier (40) is connected to the sea water electrolyzer (30). The rectifier 40 converts the AC power supplied to the seawater electrolyzer 30 into DC power and supplies the DC power.

The liquid (decomposed water) and the gas (gas) electrolyzed in the seawater electrolytic bath 30 are supplied to the gas-liquid separator 50. That is, the gas-liquid separator 50 serves to separate the gas and the liquid generated by decomposing the seawater. Here, sodium hypochlorite is separated from seawater although the liquid varies. The gas is hydrogen gas.

Liquid separator 50 is provided in the separator main body 52 and the separator main body 52 and has an inlet 54 through which the electrolytic water flows and a liquid An outlet 56 and a gas outlet 58 for discharging the separated gas. At this time, the gas-liquid separator 50 may employ a cyclone system.

The liquid discharge port 56 is provided below the peripheral surface of the separator main body 52 and is connected to a liquid reservoir 140 for storing the liquid separated from the gas-liquid separator 50. The liquid reservoir 140 serves to store liquid sodium hypochlorite.

On the other hand, the gas separated in the gas-liquid separator 50, in particular, the hydrogen, is supplied to the fuel cell 70 so as to produce electric power. At this time, the gas must be refined and purified before being supplied to the fuel cell 70.

Thus, the gas outlet 58 is provided on the circumferential surface of the separator main body 52, and is connected to the gas purification processing unit 100. The gas purification treatment unit 100 serves to purify a specific gas with high purity before supplying the gas component separated through the gas-liquid separator 50 to the fuel cell 70. The gas purification treatment unit 100 removes impurity gas such as oxygen unnecessary from the separated gas components.

At this time, the gas purifying unit 100 purifies the high purity gas and supplies the purified gas to the fuel cell 70 so that it is maintained at 95% or higher, which is above the hydrogen explosion limit range. More preferably, it should be refined to discharge and maintain a hydrogen concentration of 99.5% or more suitable for the fuel cell 70.

Thus, the gas purification treatment unit 100 includes the bubbling unit 110, the oxygen scavenging catalyst reactor 120, and the water eliminator 130.

The bubbling unit 110 is provided to remove a water-soluble gas such as chlorine in a specific gas (by-product hydrogen) supplied from the gas-liquid separator 50. That is, the specific gas passes through the bubbling machine 110 to filter the water-soluble gas. The bubbling machine 110 has an aeration device or the like.

The oxygen-removing catalytic reactor 120 reacts with the impurity gas, which is an impurity gas, in the specific gas passing through the bubbling unit 110, and converts the impurity gas into water. Here, the impurity gas is oxygen. In addition, the oxygen scavenging catalytic reactor 120 is preferably filled with a hydrophobic catalyst.

At this time, it is preferable that the bubbling unit 110 is supplied with moisture produced in the electricity production reaction or moisture produced in the oxygen removal catalyst reactor 120 in the fuel cell 70.

Also, the oxygen scavenging catalytic reactor 120 is heated while causing a catalytic reaction. Therefore, it is preferable that the amount of heat generated by the oxygen-removing catalytic reactor 120 is reduced by the cooling water injected from the cooling water injector 122. The cooling water injector 122 injects cooling water into the oxygen-removing catalytic reactor 120, and is automatically or manually controlled. The cooling water injector 122 is applicable in various ways.

The moisture eliminator 130 serves to remove moisture in the specific gas that has passed through the oxygen scavenging catalyst reactor 120. That is, the water eliminator 130 is for removing a small amount of moisture not separated in the gas-liquid separator 50, the bubbling machine 110 and the oxygen-removing catalytic reactor 120, and includes a moisture removing filter, A water absorption device by a condensation method, and the like. In addition, various known water removal means can be applied.

Moisture is removed from the water eliminator 130, and a specific gas, that is, hydrogen gas, which has been highly purified, is supplied to the fuel cell 70. The hydrogen gas having passed through the water eliminator 130 is supplied to the fuel cell 70 in a high purity state so as to be maintained at 95% or more, more preferably at least 99.5%, which is above the hydrogen explosion limit range.

The gas purifying unit 100 includes a bubbling unit 110, an oxygen-removing catalytic reactor 120, and a water eliminator 130 in this order.

Therefore, as the specific gas discharged from the seawater electrolyzer 30, that is, the by-produced hydrogen, is maintained at the optimized hydrogen purity through the gas purification treatment unit 100 before being supplied to the fuel cell 70, (70), thereby enabling stable power generation.

2 is a configuration diagram of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

2, the seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to the second embodiment of the present invention includes a gas-liquid separator 50 and a gas purification treatment unit 100.

The gas-liquid separator (50) has an inlet (60) therein.

Liquid separator 50. The gas-liquid separator 50 is made of a material having a specific gravity smaller than that of the liquid.

Liquid separator 50 can not function as a gas discharge line 58 in the gas-liquid separator 50. When the liquid is discharged, the opening hole 53 at the upper end of the gas-liquid separator 50 is blocked Thereby preventing the liquid from flowing out.

A partition wall 51 is provided on the upper side of the gas-liquid separator 50 corresponding to the upper side of the inlet 60. The partition 51 has an opening 53 at a position corresponding to the cavity 60. At this time, the open hole 53 may be configured to have the shape of an orifice. The orifice-shaped open hole 53 serves to control the effective gas separation in the gas-liquid separator 50 and the pressure of the gas. That is, when the liquid level in the separator main body 52 of the gas-liquid separator 50 rises, the port 60 blocks the opening 53 to prevent the liquid from being discharged.

In addition, the gas-liquid separator 50 includes a hydrophobic catalytic reactor 80 therein. The hydrophobic catalytic reactor 80 reacts with oxygen gas, which is an impurity, in the gas introduced into the gas-liquid separator 50 from the seawater electrolyzer 30, and converts the oxygen gas into hydrogen by reacting with the hydrogen gas.

A pressure regulator 150 is provided between the gas-liquid separator 50 and the liquid reservoir 140 to regulate the pressure in the gas-liquid separator 50. The pressure regulator 150 increases the pressure of the gas in the gas-liquid separator 50 to a constant level and flows the gas into the gas purification unit 100 at the downstream stage, so that the purified gas can be supplied to the fuel cell at a constant pressure.

Particularly, after the gas-liquid separation, the concentration of hydrogen and oxygen in the by-product gas may be within the hydrogen explosion range. In this case, it is preferable that a part of the hydrogen supplied to the fuel cell 70 is circulated to the gas purification treatment unit 100 so as to be within the hydrogen explosion range.

Thus, the separated specific gas is branched and circulated through the circulation line 90 to the downstream end of the gas-liquid separator 50 and the front end of the gas purification unit 100.

The reference numerals not described are replaced with those described above.

3 is a configuration diagram of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid plant according to a third embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 3, the seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to the third embodiment of the present invention includes a gas-liquid separator 50 and a gas purification treatment unit 100.

The gas-liquid separator 50 connects the seawater electrolytic bath 30 to the front side. In particular, the gas-liquid separator 50 and the seawater electrolytic bath 30 are connected through the hydrophobic catalytic reactor 80. The hydrophobic catalytic reactor 80 is disposed between the seawater electrolyzer 30 and the gas-liquid separator 50. As the liquid and the gas, which have not been subjected to gas-liquid separation, pass through the hydrophobic catalytic reactor 80, It is possible to secure the advantage that it is not necessary to construct a separate cooling device by controlling the heat generated by the liquid naturally. In addition, since the hydrophobic catalytic reactor 80 is separately constructed, it is possible to provide convenience of maintenance.

The reference numerals not described are replaced with those described above.

4 is a configuration diagram of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 4, the combined system for a sea water electrolytic fuel cell according to the fourth embodiment of the present invention includes a gas-liquid separator 50 and a gas purification treatment unit 100.

In particular, the gas purifier 100 preferably includes a water remover 130 between the bubbler 110 and the oxygen scavenging catalytic reactor 120.

Such a configuration can not be directly supplied to the fuel cell 70 because the water vapor contained in the gas at the upstream of the water remover 130 and introduced into the gas may contain some impurities in the process of electrolyzing the seawater and is low in purity. And then supplied to the fuel cell 70. However, when supplying hydrogen to the fuel cell 70 again, a separate humidifying device is required when it is to be supplied in a humidifying state. However, oxygen and hydrogen react with each other through the oxygen removing catalytic reactor 120 to generate water, The high-purity hydrogen gas that has passed through the oxygen-removing catalytic reactor 120 itself can produce humidified hydrogen containing high-purity water vapor, so that a separate humidifying device is not required.

The reference numerals not described are replaced with those described above.

5 is a configuration diagram of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid facility according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 5, the combined system of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention includes a gas-liquid separator 50 and a gas purification treatment unit 100.

The bubbling unit 110 of the gas purification unit 100 may simultaneously remove the water-soluble gas and the oxygen in the specific gas by receiving the impurity gas. That is, the bubbling unit 110 serves also as the oxygen-removing catalytic reactor 120. In this case, the oxygen scavenging catalyst reactor 120 shown in another embodiment becomes unnecessary. The cooling injector 122 is provided to inject cooling water to the bubbling machine 110 as required.

The reference numerals not described are replaced with those described above.

FIG. 6 is a configuration diagram of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid system according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a configuration diagram of a gas adsorber of a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid system according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention.

6 and 7, a seawater electrolytic fuel cell hybrid installation according to a sixth embodiment of the present invention includes a gas-liquid separator 50 and a gas purification treatment unit 100.

The gas purification processing unit 100 includes a bubbling unit 100, a gas adsorber 160, and a water eliminator 130.

At this time, the bubbling machine 100 and the water remover 130 perform the same operations as those described above.

The gas adsorber 160 selectively adsorbs and removes impurity gas in the specific gas passing through the bubbling machine 110. Through the above catalytic reaction, some hydrogen is consumed in order to remove oxygen. However, the removal of oxygen through adsorption has an advantage that oxygen can be selectively removed without consuming hydrogen at all.

At this time, the gas adsorber 160 is composed of a plurality of chambers. For convenience, two chambers are shown. While one chamber adsorbs and purifies the impurity gas in a specific gas, it is preferable that the other chamber is configured to simultaneously perform regeneration through desorption.

The desorption can be performed by applying heat and pressure, and the heat required at this time can be recovered from the heat generated in the fuel cell 70 and used.

Further, the oxygen removing catalytic reactor 120 may be additionally provided at the downstream end of the gas adsorber 160 to produce hydrogen of higher purity.

The gas adsorber 160 and the water eliminator 130 may be installed at different positions.

It is also possible to branch the purified specific gas (hydrogen gas) through a part of the circulation line 90 to the downstream end of the gas-liquid separator 50 and to the front end of the gas purification unit 100. This is for purifying the gas safely by controlling the purity of the gas supplied from the gas-liquid separator 50 to be lowered to the gas purifying unit 100 in the explosion range.

Although not shown, a pressurizing pump and a buffer tank may be separately provided at the downstream end of the gas purification treatment section 10 in order to maintain the pressure of hydrogen supplied to the fuel cell 70, if necessary.

The reference numerals not described are replaced with those described above.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. I will understand. Accordingly, the true scope of the present invention should be determined by the following claims.

10: Seawater supply section 20: Pretreatment filter
30: Sea water electrolyzer 40: Rectifier
50: gas-liquid separator 60:
70: Fuel cell 80: Hydrophobic catalytic reactor
90: circulation line 100: gas purification processing section
110: bubbling machine 120: oxygen removal catalyst reactor
122: Cooling water injector 130: Moisture eliminator
140: Liquid reservoir 150: Pressure regulator

Claims (15)

A gas-liquid separator for separating gas and liquid produced by decomposing seawater; And a gas purifier for purifying a specific gas with high purity before supplying the gas component separated through the gas-liquid separator to the fuel cell and maintaining the purge gas within the explosion limit range of the specific gas, ,
The gas purifier includes a bubbler for removing a water-soluble gas contained in the gas component separated from the gas-liquid separator;
An oxygen scavenging catalytic reactor for reacting with the impure gas in the specific gas passing through the bubbling unit to convert it into water; And
And a water eliminator for removing moisture in the specific gas passing through the oxygen elimination catalyst reactor,
Wherein the specific gas from which moisture has been removed from the water eliminator is mixed with the specific gas moving from the gas-liquid separator to the bubbling unit through the circulation line.
delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the gas-liquid separator connects the liquid reservoir to store the separated liquid.
The method of claim 3,
And a pressure regulator is provided between the gas-liquid separator and the liquid reservoir to regulate the pressure in the gas-liquid separator.
The method according to claim 1 or 3,
Wherein the gas-liquid separator comprises a partition wall having an opening in the interior and an opening in the interior of the gas-liquid separator.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the gas-liquid separator comprises a seawater electrolytic cell connected to the front side, and a hydrophobic catalytic reactor is provided or connected to the gas-liquid separator.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the oxygen scavenging catalytic reactor is filled with a hydrophobic catalyst.
8. The method of claim 1 or 7,
Wherein the calorific value of the oxygen-removing catalytic reactor is reduced by the cooling water injected from the cooling water injector.
The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the water eliminator is located between the bubbling unit and the oxygen scavenging catalyst reactor.
10. The method of claim 1 or 9,
Wherein the bubbling unit receives water produced in the electricity production reaction or water produced in the oxygen removal catalyst reactor in the fuel cell.
10. The method of claim 1 or 9,
Wherein the bubbling unit is integrally provided with the oxygen scavenging catalytic reactor and is supplied with an impurity gas to simultaneously remove water-soluble gas and oxygen in a specific gas.
delete delete The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the gas purifier includes a gas adsorber for adsorbing impurity gas in a specific gas passing through the bubbling unit.
15. The method of claim 14,
Wherein the gas adsorber is composed of a plurality of chambers;
Characterized in that while some of the chambers refine the impurity gas in the specific gas, the other chamber performs regeneration through desorption.

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