Research project

Reduction of Combusted Iron using Hydrogen

Renewable energy production is inherently fluctuating at the will of mother nature. To maintain a stable energy grid, it is important to look for ways to store and transport energy. Metals, iron in particular, pose a promising option for long distant transport as well as long term storage. Iron can be burned in slightly altered existing coal fired power plants and the combustion products, iron-oxide can be captured and reduced back into iron using renewable energy, thereby creating a cyclic process of iron as a fuel.

This project focusses on the reduction part of the cycle mentioned above. The combusted iron (iron-oxide) can be “energized” by use of hydrogen gas at elevated temperatures. This is similar to the process of turning iron ores into iron, as is done in the steel industry. The first part of the research focusses on the chemical reaction mechanism. Using thermogravimetric analysis, the reaction is studied in a controlled way and the results are compared with different models. Kinetic parameters will then be extracted from the experimental results. The resulting model can later be used to predict and design larger scale reactors.

The second part of the research focusses on designing and testing a lab-scale fluidized bed. This type of reactor is a promising option for the reduction process, due to its good heat and mass transfer properties. The fluidization behavior and characteristics will be studied as well as the reduction behavior. The earlier developed model will be compared with the experimental results from this reactor by performing simulations. This work will give insight into the reduction process from a fundamental perspective as well as a more practical sense.

People involved in this project: 
Conrad Hessels, Yali Tang, Tess Homan and Niels Deen