Proposal Number CTS-0551749 Principal Investigator Palumbo, Robert O Affiliation Valparaiso University Proposal Title RUI-Solar Thermal Electrolysis of ZnO for the Production of Zn
In this RUI project, undergraduates will deepen our understanding of the industrial potential of a high temperature solar electrolysis process. In the process, concentrated sunlight is used as process heat in order to produce Zn as a commodity valuable to society or as a fuel for fuel cells or batteries for electric power production. Zn is also a path toward the production of H2, perhaps through an exothermic reaction between Zn and water. In either of these fuel production scenarios, ZnO is formed and recycled back to a solar furnace. The project ultimately has important impacts in climate change associated with greenhouse gas emissions and the need to reduce the nation's reliance on fossil fuels.
Intellectual Merit: The project goals will be addressed by fundamental studies involving thermodynamics and electrolysis transport phenomena. There are three scientific objectives: (1) Develop a deeper understanding of the behavior of select materials used in a solar ZnO-electrolytic cell to enable efficient and reliable electrolysis of the oxide at temperatures ranging from 1200 to 1800 K; (2) discover how reactor design and operating variables influence the performance of the reactor; (3) develop a numerical model that enables one to predict large-scale reactor performance by extrapolating small-scale experimental results.
Broader Impacts: The tight integration between the research goals and the educational goals are key to the impacts of the project. The work will be performed by undergraduate students under the supervision of the PI plus one mentor from Germany who will host two students in the third and fourth years of the project. The project has three educational objectives: (1) develop undergraduate engineering students' research skills, (2) provide an opportunity for them to find the pleasure of using their intellectual talent to help push the frontier of engineering science, and (3) develop fundamental skills required for doing international collaborative research and engineering. Part of the work will be performed at the German aerospace laboratory's solar facility (Deutsches Zentrum fur Luft-und Raumfahrt, DLR-Cologne). The international collaborative work will be supported by a Valparaiso University program that enables students of science and engineering to enroll in a special blend of German courses in which the students reach a level of German language proficiency and cultural understanding where they are easily able to function well in Germany doing technical work.
This project is jointly funded by the Directorate for Engineering, Thermal Transport and Thermal Processing Program, and the Office of International Science and Engineering.
