TY - JOUR
T1 - Fuelling a solid oxide fuel cell with ammonia recovered from water by vacuum membrane stripping
AU - van Linden, Niels
AU - Spanjers, Henri
AU - van Lier, Jules B.
PY - 2022
Y1 - 2022
N2 - Gaseous ammonia (NH3) recovered from residual waters may be used as a fuel in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) to generate electricity without emission of undesirable oxidised nitrogen species. NH3 can be directly recovered from water as a gas by vacuum membrane stripping (VMS), which also results in the evaporation of water (H2O), leading to the recovery of NH3-H2O mixtures. However, in currently available literature, information is lacking on the NH3 concentrations in NH3-H2O mixtures that may be used as a fuel for an oxygen-conducting SOFC (SOFC-O). In this study, we assessed the effect of feed water temperature and the NH3 feed water concentration on the NH3 concentrations in gaseous VMS permeate. Besides, we assessed the feasibility to use NH3-H2O mixtures in the concentration range between 5 and 25 wt% for the generation of electricity in an SOFC-O. The results show that increasing the NH3 feed water concentration from 1 to 10 g∙L−1 increased the NH3 concentration in the gaseous VMS permeate from 1 wt% to up to 11 wt%. Increasing the feed water temperature from 25 to 35 °C also results in an increase in the NH3 concentration in the gaseous permeate, whereas increasing the feed water temperature from 35 °C to 55 °C leads to dilution of the VMS permeate. Furthermore, electricity was generated at an electrical efficiency of 43% in an SOFC-O when the NH3 concentration in the NH3-H2O fuel was only 5 wt%. Hence, according results on the obtained NH3 concentrations in the gaseous VMS permeate and the generation of electricity using dilute NH3-H2O mixtures as a fuel, VMS and SOFC-O can be combined for the generation of electricity from NH3 recovered from water. Moreover, the electrical energy generation of the SOFC-O, which reached values of 9 MJ∙kg-N−1, was higher than the electrical energy consumption for VMS, for which values of 7 MJ∙kg-N−1 were calculated.
AB - Gaseous ammonia (NH3) recovered from residual waters may be used as a fuel in solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) to generate electricity without emission of undesirable oxidised nitrogen species. NH3 can be directly recovered from water as a gas by vacuum membrane stripping (VMS), which also results in the evaporation of water (H2O), leading to the recovery of NH3-H2O mixtures. However, in currently available literature, information is lacking on the NH3 concentrations in NH3-H2O mixtures that may be used as a fuel for an oxygen-conducting SOFC (SOFC-O). In this study, we assessed the effect of feed water temperature and the NH3 feed water concentration on the NH3 concentrations in gaseous VMS permeate. Besides, we assessed the feasibility to use NH3-H2O mixtures in the concentration range between 5 and 25 wt% for the generation of electricity in an SOFC-O. The results show that increasing the NH3 feed water concentration from 1 to 10 g∙L−1 increased the NH3 concentration in the gaseous VMS permeate from 1 wt% to up to 11 wt%. Increasing the feed water temperature from 25 to 35 °C also results in an increase in the NH3 concentration in the gaseous permeate, whereas increasing the feed water temperature from 35 °C to 55 °C leads to dilution of the VMS permeate. Furthermore, electricity was generated at an electrical efficiency of 43% in an SOFC-O when the NH3 concentration in the NH3-H2O fuel was only 5 wt%. Hence, according results on the obtained NH3 concentrations in the gaseous VMS permeate and the generation of electricity using dilute NH3-H2O mixtures as a fuel, VMS and SOFC-O can be combined for the generation of electricity from NH3 recovered from water. Moreover, the electrical energy generation of the SOFC-O, which reached values of 9 MJ∙kg-N−1, was higher than the electrical energy consumption for VMS, for which values of 7 MJ∙kg-N−1 were calculated.
KW - Ammonia recovery
KW - Ammonia stripping
KW - Ammonia-water mixture
KW - Energy generation
KW - Solid oxide fuel cell
KW - Vacuum membrane stripping
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85110170950&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.cej.2021.131081
DO - 10.1016/j.cej.2021.131081
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85110170950
SN - 1385-8947
VL - 428
JO - Chemical Engineering Journal
JF - Chemical Engineering Journal
M1 - 131081
ER -