Nuclear Production of Hydrogen, Fourth Information Exchange ...

HEAT PUMP CYCLE BY HYDROGEN-ABSORBING ALLOYS TO ASSIST HTGR IN PRODUCING HYDROGEN
Conclusions
A chemical heat pump system was proposed to enhance the heat utilisation of HTGR. The overall heat
pump cycle was explained on the pressure-reciprocal temperature relation. A heat pump packed
with two hydrogen-absorbing alloys can be designed for its operation during three heat sources
corresponding to the three decomposition reactions comprised in the S-I cycle. A Zr(V 1-X Fe X ) 2 alloy
was tested for a high-temperature heat pump system to assist energy conversion of HTGR. A small
mock-up test using ZrV 1.9 Fe 0.1 particles proved to be able to heat up the temperature of the heat pump
at least ΔT = 100°C at the initial temperature of T 0 = 600°C. Fast hydrogen desorption from the alloy was
also proved experimentally.
Acknowledgements
This research was performed under the Centre of Excellence (COE) programme supported by the
Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. The programme is entitled “A Challenge
of Reliable Hydrogen-related Technology”. Our research group belongs to the Hydrogen Technology
Research Centre of Kyushu University: www.mech.kyushu-u.ac.jp/h2/english/. We would like to express
our gratitude to all the students who belong to our laboratory.
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