(259f) MgO/Mg Based Solar Driven CH4 Reforming and H2O Splitting Process

In past, several metal oxide based water-splitting cycles are examined for H₂ production, for instance zinc oxide/zinc cycle, tin oxide/tin cycle, iron oxide/iron cycle, ceria and doped ceria cycle, ferrite cycle, and perovskite cycle. Attempts are also made to use some of these cycles towards a combined H₂O/CO₂ splitting reaction for the production of syngas. To reduce the thermal reduction temperature of the metal oxides, CH₄ is used as a reducing agent by several researchers. In this study, we propose a co-production of Mg, syngas, and H₂ in a two-step combined methane reforming and water splitting process driven by solar energy using MgO as a reactive material. A thermodynamic analysis is carried out for a) Mg and syngas producing open process (MS) and b) Mg, syngas, and H2 producing semi-open process (MSH). Effects of CH₄ as a reducing agent and water splitting temperature on thermal reduction of MgO, total solar energy required to run the cycle, efficiency values and other thermodynamics parameters needed for the process development are explored in detail. In addition to the thermodynamic modeling, the experimental investigation of production of H₂ and syngas via MgO/Mg based methane reforming and H₂O splitting cycle is investigated. Mg possess numerous advantages based on which it can be selected over state of the art Zn material for the reforming of CH4.