Analysis of a supercritical hydrogen liquefaction cycle
Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-76).
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| Other Authors: | |
| Format: | Thesis |
| Language: | eng |
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology
2009
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45208 |
| _version_ | 1826205101913538560 |
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| author | Staats, Wayne Lawrence |
| author2 | John G. Brisson. |
| author_facet | John G. Brisson. Staats, Wayne Lawrence |
| author_sort | Staats, Wayne Lawrence |
| collection | MIT |
| description | Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-76). |
| first_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:06:45Z |
| format | Thesis |
| id | mit-1721.1/45208 |
| institution | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| language | eng |
| last_indexed | 2024-09-23T13:06:45Z |
| publishDate | 2009 |
| publisher | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| record_format | dspace |
| spelling | mit-1721.1/452082019-04-10T12:17:09Z Analysis of a supercritical hydrogen liquefaction cycle Staats, Wayne Lawrence John G. Brisson. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Dept. of Mechanical Engineering. Mechanical Engineering. Includes bibliographical references (p. 72-76). Thesis (S.M.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Mechanical Engineering, 2008. In this work, a supercritical hydrogen liquefaction cycle is proposed and analyzed numerically. If hydrogen is to be used as an energy carrier, the efficiency of liquefaction will become increasingly important. By examining some difficulties of commonly used industrial liquefaction cycles, several changes were suggested and a readily scalable, supercritical, helium-cooled hydrogen liquefaction cycle was proposed. A novel overlap in flow paths of the two coldest stages allowed the heat exchanger losses to be minimized and the use of a single-phase liquid expander eliminated the pressure reduction losses associated with a Joule-Thomson valve. A simulation program was written in MATLAB to investigate the effects of altering component efficiencies and various system parameters on the cycle efficiency. In addition to performing the overall cycle simulations, several of the system components were studied in greater detail. First, the required volume of the ortho-para catalyst beds was estimated based on published experimental data. Next, the improvement in cycle efficiency due to the use of a single-phase liquid expander to reduce the pressure of the hydrogen stream was estimated. Finally, a heat exchanger simulation program was developed to verify the feasibility and to estimate the approximate size of the heat exchangers in the cycle simulation. For a large, 50-ton-per-day plant with reasonable estimates of achievable component efficiencies, the proposed cycle offered a modest improvement in efficiency over the current state of the art. In comparison to the 30-40% Second Law efficiencies of today's most advanced industrial plants, efficiencies of 39-44% were predicted for the proposed cycle, depending on the heat exchange area employed. by Wayne Lawrence Staats, Jr. S.M. 2009-04-29T17:08:29Z 2009-04-29T17:08:29Z 2008 2008 Thesis http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45208 302250799 eng M.I.T. theses are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission. See provided URL for inquiries about permission. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 103 p. application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| spellingShingle | Mechanical Engineering. Staats, Wayne Lawrence Analysis of a supercritical hydrogen liquefaction cycle |
| title | Analysis of a supercritical hydrogen liquefaction cycle |
| title_full | Analysis of a supercritical hydrogen liquefaction cycle |
| title_fullStr | Analysis of a supercritical hydrogen liquefaction cycle |
| title_full_unstemmed | Analysis of a supercritical hydrogen liquefaction cycle |
| title_short | Analysis of a supercritical hydrogen liquefaction cycle |
| title_sort | analysis of a supercritical hydrogen liquefaction cycle |
| topic | Mechanical Engineering. |
| url | http://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/45208 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT staatswaynelawrence analysisofasupercriticalhydrogenliquefactioncycle |