This repository contains my final project for Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering 133A, Engineering Thermodynamics, taken with Prof. Timothy Fisher, Spring 2021
Problem Statement: The goal of this project is to develop a conceptual design of a natural gas decarbonization system that services a microgrid community. The objective is to supply an average of 1 MW-hr per day of clean hydrogen to the microgrid for a combination of residential heating and electrical power generation in a hydrogen fuel cell (note: these ‘downstream’ uses are not part of the design).
Moreover, decarbonization must utilize direct solar-thermal pyrolysis to the greatest extent possible, and any non-solar energy used for decarbonization must come from the produced hydrogen (not from the natural gas), thus decreasing the hydrogen available for downstream use.
It is also required to provide a ‘peak’ power above the average usage, such that the system should be able to provide a peak hydrogen energy delivery of 200 kW in any given 3-hour period (i.e., even at night) through a combination of (net) produced and stored hydrogen.
This repository includes all information & analysis used for the development of appropriately sized components including: (1) the solar-thermal concentrating heater for pyrolysis, (2) a hydrogen burner for auxiliary pyrolysis, and (3) a pressurized hydrogen tank for buffering and delivery of hydrogen to the microgrid. The analysis includes two options in which at least two of the three components are sized differently. The second option is designed to improve exergy efficiency.
