A Review on Numerical Simulation of Hydrogen Production from Ammonia Decomposition

Ammonia (NH<sub>3</sub>) is regarded as a promising medium of hydrogen storage, due to its large hydrogen storage density, decent performance on safety and moderate storage conditions. On the user side, NH<sub>3</sub> is generally required to decompose into hydrogen for utili...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Rui Ao, Ruihua Lu, Guanghui Leng, Youran Zhu, Fuwu Yan, Qinghua Yu
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-01-01
Series:Energies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/16/2/921
Description
Summary:Ammonia (NH<sub>3</sub>) is regarded as a promising medium of hydrogen storage, due to its large hydrogen storage density, decent performance on safety and moderate storage conditions. On the user side, NH<sub>3</sub> is generally required to decompose into hydrogen for utilization in fuel cells, and therefore it is vital for the NH<sub>3</sub>-based hydrogen storage technology development to study NH<sub>3</sub> decomposition processes and improve the decomposition efficiency. Numerical simulation has become a powerful tool for analyzing the NH<sub>3</sub> decomposition processes since it can provide a revealing insight into the heat and mass transfer phenomena and substantial guidance on further improving the decomposition efficiency. This paper reviews the numerical simulations of NH<sub>3</sub> decomposition in various application scenarios, including NH<sub>3</sub> decomposition in microreactors, coupled combustion chemical reactors, solid oxide fuel cells, and membrane reactors. The models of NH<sub>3</sub> decomposition reactions in various scenarios and the heat and mass transport in the reactor are elaborated. The effects of reactor structure and operating conditions on the performance of NH<sub>3</sub> decomposition reactor are analyzed. It can be found that NH<sub>3</sub> decomposition in microchannel reactors is not limited by heat and mass transfer, and NH<sub>3</sub> conversion can be improved by using membrane reactors under the same conditions. Finally, research prospects and opportunities are proposed in terms of model development and reactor performance improvement for NH<sub>3</sub> decomposition.
ISSN:1996-1073