RU2142905C1 - Method of producing hydrogen and oxygen from water - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: power engineering, more particularly preparation of cheap and economical sources of energy. SUBSTANCE: overheated steam having temperature of 500-550 C is produced in unclosed space. Overheated steam is passed through constant high-intensity electrical field (6000 V) to produce hydrogen and oxygen. Method sues simple equipment, is economical, fire-and explosion safe, and is highly efficient. EFFECT: more efficient preparation method. 3 dwg

Description

 When combined with oxygen-oxidation, hydrogen takes first place in calories per 1 kg of fuel among all fuels used to learn electricity and heat. But the high calorific value of hydrogen is still not used in the production of electricity and heat and cannot compete with hydrocarbon fuel.

 An obstacle to the use of hydrogen in the energy sector is an expensive method of producing it, which is not economically justified. To produce hydrogen, electrolysis plants are mainly used, which are inefficient and the energy spent on producing hydrogen is equal to the energy received from burning this hydrogen.

A known method of producing hydrogen and oxygen from superheated water vapor with a temperature of 1800-2500 ^o C, described in British application N 1489054 (CL C 01 B 1/03, 1977). This method is complex, energy intensive and difficult to implement.

 Closest to the proposed is a method of producing hydrogen and oxygen from water vapor on a catalyst by passing this steam through an electric field, described in British application N 1585527 (CL C 01 B 3/04, 1981).

The disadvantages of this method include:
- the impossibility of producing hydrogen in large quantities;
- energy intensity;
- the complexity of the device and the use of expensive materials;
- the inability to implement this method when using industrial water, because at a temperature of saturated steam, deposits and scale will form on the walls of the device and on the catalyst, which will lead to its rapid failure;
- to collect the obtained hydrogen and oxygen, special prefabricated containers are used, which makes the method fire and explosive.

 The objective of the invention is to eliminate the above disadvantages, as well as obtaining a cheap source of energy and heat.

This is achieved by the fact that in the method of producing hydrogen and oxygen from water vapor, including passing this steam through an electric field, according to the invention, superheated steam with a temperature of 500-550 ^° C is used and passed through a high voltage direct current electric field, thereby causing dissociation steam and its separation into hydrogen and oxygen atoms.

 The proposed method is based on the following.

 1. The electronic bond between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms weakens in proportion to the increase in water temperature. This is confirmed by the practice of burning dry coal. Before burning dry coal, it is watered. Wet coal gives more heat, burns better. This is due to the fact that at a high combustion temperature of coal, water decomposes into hydrogen and oxygen. Hydrogen burns and gives additional calories to coal, and oxygen increases the amount of air oxygen in the furnace, which contributes to a better and more complete combustion of coal.

2. The ignition temperature of hydrogen from 580 to 590 ^o C, the decomposition of water should be below the ignition threshold of hydrogen.

3. The electronic bond between the hydrogen and oxygen atoms at a temperature of 550 ^o C is still sufficient for the formation of water molecules, but the orbits of the electrons are already distorted, the bond with the hydrogen and oxygen atoms is weakened. In order for the electrons to leave their orbits and the atomic bond between them to break, the electrons need to add more energy, but not heat, but the energy of the high-voltage electric field. Then the potential energy of the electric field is converted into the kinetic energy of the electron. The speed of the electrons in the direct current electric field increases in proportion to the square root of the voltage applied to the electrodes.

4. The decomposition of superheated steam in an electric field can occur at a low steam speed, and such a steam speed at a temperature of 550 ^o C can be obtained only in open space.

 5. To obtain hydrogen and oxygen in large quantities, you need to use the law of conservation of matter. From this law it follows: how much water was decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen, in the same amount we get water during the oxidation of these gases.

 The possibility of carrying out the invention is confirmed by examples carried out in three variants of installations.

 All three plant options are made from the same, uniform cylinder-shaped products from steel pipes.

 1. Work and installation device of the first option (scheme 1).

In all three cases, the operation of the plants begins with the preparation of superheated steam in an open space with a steam temperature of 550 ^o C. The open space provides a speed along the contour of decomposition of steam up to 2 m / s.

 The preparation of superheated steam takes place in a steel pipe made of heat-resistant steel / starter /, the diameter and length of which depends on the capacity of the installation. The power of the installation determines the amount of decomposable water, liters / s.

 One liter of water contains 124 liters of hydrogen and 622 liters of oxygen, in terms of calories it is 329 kcal.

Before starting the installation, the starter is heated from 800 to 1000 ^o C / heating is carried out in any way /.

One end of the starter is plugged with a flange through which metered water enters for decomposition at the rated power. The water in the starter is heated to 550 ^o C, freely leaves the other end of the starter and enters the decomposition chamber, to which the starter is connected by flanges.

 In the decomposition chamber, superheated steam is decomposed into hydrogen and oxygen by an electric field created by positive and negative electrodes, to which a direct current with a voltage of 6000 V is supplied. The chamber body / pipe / serves as the positive electrode, and a thin-walled steel pipe mounted on the negative electrode is the center of the case, over the entire surface of which there are holes with a diameter of 20 mm.

 A pipe - an electrode is a grid that should not create resistance for the hydrogen to enter the electrode. The electrode is attached to the pipe body on the bushing and high voltage is supplied through the same mount. The end of the negative electrode pipe ends with an insulating and heat-resistant pipe for hydrogen to escape through the chamber flange. Oxygen output from the decomposition chamber body through a steel pipe. The positive electrode / chamber housing / must be grounded and grounded the positive pole at the DC power source.

 The hydrogen yield in relation to oxygen is 1: 5.

 2. Work and installation device according to the second option (scheme 2).

 The installation of the second option is designed to produce a large amount of hydrogen and oxygen due to the parallel decomposition of a large amount of water and gas oxidation in boilers to produce high pressure working steam for power plants operating on hydrogen / hereinafter referred to as wind farm /.

 The installation, as in the first embodiment, begins with the preparation of superheated steam in the starter. But this starter is different from the starter in the 1st version. The difference is that at the end of the starter a tap is welded in which a steam switch is mounted, which has two positions - “start” and “work”.

The steam received in the starter enters the heat exchanger, which is designed to adjust the temperature of the recovered water after oxidation in the boiler / K1 / to 550 ^o C. The heat exchanger / To / is a pipe, like all products with the same diameter. Between the flanges of the pipe, tubes of heat-resistant steel are mounted, through which superheated steam passes. Tubes flow around water from a closed cooling system.

 From the heat exchanger, superheated steam enters the decomposition chamber, exactly the same as in the first version of the installation.

Hydrogen and oxygen from the decomposition chamber enter the burner of boiler 1, in which hydrogen is ignited by a lighter - a torch is formed. The torch, flowing around the boiler 1, creates in it a working steam of high pressure. The torch tail from boiler 1 enters boiler 2 and with its heat in boiler 2 prepares steam for boiler 1. Continuous gas oxidation begins along the entire boiler circuit according to the well-known formula:
2H ₂ + O ₂ = 2H ₂ O + heat
As a result of gas oxidation, water is restored and heat is released. This heat in the installation is collected by boilers 1 and boilers 2, turning this heat into high-pressure working steam. And the recovered water with a high temperature enters the next heat exchanger, from it to the next decomposition chamber. This sequence of transition of water from one state to another continues as many times as it is required to obtain energy from this collected heat in the form of working steam to ensure the design capacity of the wind farm.

 After the first portion of the superheated steam bypasses all the products, gives the circuit the calculated energy and leaves the last in the boiler circuit 2, the superheated steam is sent through the pipe to the steam switch mounted on the starter. The steam switch from the "start" position is transferred to the "work" position, after which it enters the starter. Starter shuts off / water, heating /. From the starter, superheated steam enters the first heat exchanger, and from it into the decomposition chamber. A new round of superheated steam begins along the circuit. From this moment, the contour of the decomposition and the plasma is closed to itself.

 Installation water is spent only on the formation of high-pressure working steam, which is taken from the return of the exhaust steam circuit after the turbine.

 The disadvantage of power plants for wind farms is their bulkiness. For example, for a 250 MW wind farm, it is necessary to decompose simultaneously 455 liters of water per second, and this requires 227 decomposition chambers, 227 heat exchangers, 227 boilers / K1 /, 227 boilers / K2 /. But such a bulkiness of a hundred times will be justified only by the fact that only water will be the fuel for the wind farm, not to mention the ecological cleanliness of the wind farm, cheap electric energy and heat.

 3rd version of the power plant (scheme 3).

 This is exactly the same power plant as the second.

The difference between them is that this installation works constantly from the starter, the circuit for the decomposition of steam and the combustion of hydrogen in oxygen is not closed to itself. The final product in the installation will be a heat exchanger with a decomposition chamber. Such an arrangement of products will make it possible to obtain, in addition to electric energy and heat, hydrogen and oxygen or hydrogen and ozone. A 250 MW power plant, when operating from a starter, will expend energy on heating the starter, water 7.2 m ³ / h and water on the formation of working steam 1620 m ³ / h / water is used from the return circuit of the exhaust steam /. In a power plant for a wind farm, the water temperature is 550 ^o C. The vapor pressure is 250 at. The energy consumption for creating an electric field per decomposition chamber is approximately 3600 kWh.

 A 250 MW power plant when placing products on four floors will occupy an area of 114 x 20 m and a height of 10 m. Not taking into account the area under the turbine, the generator and transformer for 250 kVA - 380 x 6000 V.

 The invention has the following advantages.

 1. The heat obtained during the oxidation of gases can be used directly in place, and hydrogen and oxygen are obtained from the disposal of exhaust steam and process water.

 2. Low water consumption when generating electricity and heat.

 3. The simplicity of the method.

 4. Significant energy savings, as it is spent only on warming up the starter to the established thermal regime.

 5. High performance of the process, because Dissociation of water molecules lasts tenths of a second.

 6. Explosion and fire safety of the method, because during its implementation there is no need for containers for collecting hydrogen and oxygen.

 7. During the operation of the installation, water is repeatedly purified, being converted into distilled water. This eliminates precipitation and scale, which increases the service life of the installation.

 8. Installation is made of ordinary steel; with the exception of boilers made of heat-resistant steels with lining and shielding their walls. That is, special expensive materials are not required.

 The invention can find application in industry by replacing hydrocarbon and nuclear fuel in power plants with cheap, widespread and environmentally friendly water - while maintaining the power of these plants.

Claims (1)

A method of producing hydrogen and oxygen from water vapor, comprising passing this steam through an electric field, characterized in that they use superheated steam of water with a temperature of 500 - 550 ^o C, passed through a high voltage direct current electric field to dissociate the vapor and separate it into hydrogen atoms and oxygen.