To achieve efficient and low-carbon hydrogen generation
a zero carbon emission hydrogen production system combining methane and solar energy is proposed. The system decouples one-stage methane reforming into two-stage methane reforming: a portion of high-temperature flue gas is introduced into the pre-reforming reactor as reactants
and the reaction heat is provided by solar energy; The reaction heat during the reforming process is providedby combusting purge gas with oxygen from the electrolytic cell. Another part of the flue gas is directly condensed and separated carbon dioxide after preheating the water to be electrolyzed. Energy and exergy balance analyses are conducted on the proposed and reference systems. The results demonstrate that the energy and exergy efficiencies of the proposed system are improved to 42.88% and 39.21%
respectively
by 4.77 and 4.53 percentage points compared to the reference system. Using the exergy utilization diagram (EUD) reveals the main reasons for improved system performance. Comprehensive utilization of solar energy through thermochemistry and electrochemistry. This not only increases the efficiency of solar energy utilization
but also eliminates high-energy consumption carbon dioxide separation devices
resulting in a total increase of 4.23 percentage points in exergy efficiency. The two-stage methane with flue gas reforming process reduces the exergy destruction of high-grade methane chemical energy into low-grade thermal energy during combustion
as well as the heat loss in the heat exchange process
resulting in a total increase of 2.02 percentage points in exergy efficiency.
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