Experimental and numerical investigation of hydrogen production in a microwave oven
Hydrogen is a great energy solution which can facilitate the storage and transportation of renewable energy. Microwave plasma-driven hydrogen production is a newly emerging technology that may be an alternative way for the future energy applications. Yet, hydrogen production from steam plasma is one of the least researched techniques and lacks experimental and numerical studies. Hence, in this thesis, hydrogen production through steam plasma is experimented in a microwave oven. Moreover, pure steam plasma is numerically simulated in two-dimension by using the steam plasma kinetics for the first time. Depending on the steam temperature from 110°C to 160°C, the system energy efficiencies are between 3.3-4.8% numerically and 2.2-4.3% experimentally. The exergy efficiencies vary between 3.2-4.7% numerically and 2.1-4.2% experimentally. The hydrogen production rate is between 0.48-0.72 μg/s numerically and 0.32-0.64μg/s experimentally. Furthermore, the deposited microwave power and reactor volume drastically enhance both overall system efficiencies and hydrogen production.
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University of Ontario Institute of Technology