Development of proton exchange membranes for hydriodic acid concentration by ion-track grafting technique

Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Sawada, Shinichi*; Sugimoto, Chihiro; Yamaki, Tetsuya*

QST-M-33; QST Takasaki Annual Report 2020, P. 37, 2022/03

https://repo.qst.go.jp/records/83072

We have been developing the ion exchange membranes by a radiation grafted polymerization method to improve HI concentration performance for Electro-electrodialysis (EED) in the thermochemical water-splitting hydrogen production iodine-sulfur process. We verify to adopt the cation exchange membrane prepared by ion-track grafted technique. In this membrane preparation technique, one-dimensional cylindrical ion-channel can be formed in the base polymer film by the radiation of the heavy ion beam. And, the excess swelling of the ion-channel could be prevented, expecting that the HI concentration performance could be improved. In our works, The HI concentration experiment was conducted by the electric cell assembled the membrane prepared by the ion-track grafting technique. The HI composition of the tested solution increased, indicating that the tested membrane can operate HI concentration by EED.

Fabrication, permeation, and corrosion stability measurements of silica membranes for HI decomposition in the thermochemical iodine-sulfur process

Myagmarjav, O.; Shibata, Ai*; Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Noguchi, Hiroki; Kubo, Shinji; Nomura, Mikihiro*; Takegami, Hiroaki

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 46(56), p.28435 - 28449, 2021/08

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2021.06.079

Improvement of HI concentration performance for hydrogen production iodine-sulfur process using crosslinked cation-exchange membrane

Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Sawada, Shinichi*; Yamaki, Tetsuya*; Kodaira, Takahide*; Kimura, Takehiro*; Nomura, Mikihiro*

Chemical Engineering Science, 237, p.116575_1 - 116575_11, 2021/06

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ces.2021.116575

We have been developing the ion exchange membranes by a radiation grafted polymerization method to improve HI concentration performance for Electro-electrodialysis (EED) in the thermochemical water-splitting hydrogen production iodine-sulfur process. In this work, the crosslinking structures were introduced to the ion exchange membranes. The proton conductivity (), transport number (t), and water permeation factor () of these crosslinked ion exchange membranes were measured and the effect of crosslinks to these performance indexes were investigated. The introduction of crosslinks was found to improve the selectivity of H and water transport (increase of t and decrease of ), although the somewhat decreased. The EED model that we established to discuss the permeation mechanism of EED system was used to theoretically analyze the effect of crosslink on the performance indexes. Based on this analysis of measurement results, the introduction of the crosslink was found to little affect the absorbed amount of HIx solution and H diffusion coefficient in the tested membranes, whereas it could lead to decrease I diffusion coefficient. The results of and t could reflect these effects. In addition, we found the fact that crosslink can inhibit the swelling due to the absorption of the HIx solution. As a result, the value decreased owing to the introduction of crosslink.

High temperature gas-cooled reactors

Takeda, Tetsuaki*; Inagaki, Yoshiyuki; Aihara, Jun; Aoki, Takeshi; Fujiwara, Yusuke; Fukaya, Yuji; Goto, Minoru; Ho, H. Q.; Iigaki, Kazuhiko; Imai, Yoshiyuki; et al.

High Temperature Gas-Cooled Reactors; JSME Series in Thermal and Nuclear Power Generation, Vol.5, 464 Pages, 2021/02

https://doi.org/10.1016/C2018-0-05383-9

As a general overview of the research and development of a High Temperature Gas-cooled Reactor (HTGR) in JAEA, this book describes the achievements by the High Temperature Engineering Test Reactor (HTTR) on the designs, key component technologies such as fuel, reactor internals, high temperature components, etc., and operational experience such as rise-to-power tests, high temperature operation at 950C, safety demonstration tests, etc. In addition, based on the knowledge of the HTTR, the development of designs and component technologies such as high performance fuel, helium gas turbine and hydrogen production by IS process for commercial HTGRs are described. These results are very useful for the future development of HTGRs. This book is published as one of a series of technical books on fossil fuel and nuclear energy systems by the Power Energy Systems Division of the Japan Society of Mechanical Engineers.

Overvoltage reduction in membrane Bunsen reaction for hydrogen production by using a radiation-grafted cation exchange membrane and porous Au anode

Sawada, Shinichi*; Kimura, Takehiro*; Nishijima, Haruyuki*; Kodaira, Takahide*; Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Kubo, Shinji; Imabayashi, Shinichiro*; Nomura, Mikihiro*; Yamaki, Tetsuya*

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 45(27), p.13814 - 13820, 2020/05

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2020.02.229

An electrochemical membrane Bunsen reaction using a cation exchange membrane (CEM) is a key to achieving an iodine-sulfur (IS) thermochemical water splitting process for mass-production of hydrogen. In this study, we prepared both the radiation-grafted CEM with a high ion exchange capacity (IEC) and the highly-porous Au-electroplated anode, and then used them for the membrane Bunsen reaction to reduce the cell overvoltage. The high-IEC grafted CEM exhibited low resistivity for proton transport, while the porous Au anode had a large effective surface area for anodic SO oxidation reaction. As a result, the cell overvoltage for the membrane Bunsen reaction was significantly reduced to 0.21 V at 200 mA/cm, which was only one-third of that of the previous test using the commercial CEM and non-porous anode. From the analysis of the current-voltage characteristics, employment of the grafted CEM was found to be more effective for the overvoltage reduction compared to the porous Au anode.

Development of strength evaluation method of ceramic reactor for iodine-sulfur process and hydrogen production test in Japan Atomic Energy Agency

Takegami, Hiroaki; Noguchi, Hiroki; Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Iwatsuki, Jin; Kamiji, Yu; Kasahara, Seiji; Imai, Yoshiyuki; Terada, Atsuhiko; Kubo, Shinji

Nuclear Engineering and Design, 360, p.110498_1 - 110498_6, 2020/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.nucengdes.2019.110498

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been conducting R&D on the thermochemical iodine-sulfur (IS) process for nuclear-powered hydrogen production. The IS process is one of the promising candidates of heat application of the high-temperature gas-cooled reactors. JAEA fabricated main chemical reactors made of industrial structural materials and confirmed their integrity in practical corrosive environments in the IS process. Based on the results of these confirmation tests, JAEA have constructed a 100 NL/h-H-scale test facility made of industrial structural materials. In this report, we succeeded in extending the hydrogen production time from 8 hours to 31 hours by developing a stable hydrogen iodide solution transfer technology in a continuous hydrogen production test. In addition, using the fracture test data of the ceramic specimen, an equation for estimating the strength of the ceramic component was developed.

Effect of HIx solution concentration on ion-exchange membrane performance in electro-electrodialysis

Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Yamaki, Tetsuya*; Asano, Masaharu*; Terai, Takayuki*

Journal of Membrane Science, 587, p.117171_1 - 117171_9, 2019/10

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.memsci.2019.117171

Electro-electrodialysis (EED) has been applied to thermochemical water-splitting iodine-sulfur process for hydrogen production in order to enhance the HI component in the HI-I-HO mixture (HIx solution). In this paper, HIx solution concentration dependence of the conductivity () and transport number () as the membrane-performance indexes of Nafion 212 and a styrene-grafted poly(ethylene-co-tetrafluoroethylene) (ETFE) membrane was experimentally investigated. From the theoretical analysis for the measurements based on the new EED model, the effects of the H and I content and the diffusion coefficients of H and I in the evaluated membranes on and were as follows: HIx solution concentration dependence of ion contents exhibited a significantly small or different variation in comparison with that of and t, which indicates that the dominant factors for and would not be ion contents; thereby, the effect of ion diffusion coefficients should not be ruled out. For of Nafion 212, H diffusion is the dominant factor because the existence of I was negligible, whereas for the ETFE-St membrane, the effect of I diffusion should be considered. I diffusion could more strongly affect for the evaluated membranes rather than H diffusion, which indicates that H selectivity of the membranes could be relatively determined by the variation of the I behavior in the membranes.

Research and development on membrane IS process for hydrogen production using solar heat

Myagmarjav, O.; Iwatsuki, Jin; Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Noguchi, Hiroki; Kamiji, Yu; Ioka, Ikuo; Kubo, Shinji; Nomura, Mikihiro*; Yamaki, Tetsuya*; Sawada, Shinichi*; et al.

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 44(35), p.19141 - 19152, 2019/07

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2018.03.132

Module design of silica membrane reactor for hydrogen production via thermochemical IS process

Myagmarjav, O.; Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Nomura, Mikihiro*; Kubo, Shinji

International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, 44(21), p.10207 - 10217, 2019/04

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.02.192

Current R&D status of thermochemical water splitting hydrogen production iodine-sulfur process in Japan Atomic Energy Agency, 2; Reliability improvements of corrosion-resistant equipment

Kamiji, Yu; Noguchi, Hiroki; Takegami, Hiroaki; Tanaka, Nobuyuki; Iwatsuki, Jin; Kasahara, Seiji; Kubo, Shinji

Proceedings of 9th International Topical Meeting on High Temperature Reactor Technology (HTR 2018) (USB Flash Drive), 7 Pages, 2018/10

Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) has been conducting R&D on the thermochemical iodine-sulfur (IS) process for nuclear-powered hydrogen production. The IS process is one of the promising candidates of heat application of the HTGR. JAEA achieved continuous hydrogen production for one week with a hydrogen production rate of 30 NL/h by using a test apparatus made of glass and fluororesin material. Subsequently, JAEA fabricated main chemical reactors made of industrial materials and confirmed their integrity in corrosive environments in the IS process. Based on the results, JAEA has constructed a 100 NL/h-H-scale test facility made of industrial materials; one of the important materials is the glass-lined steel for corrosion resistant components such as vessels, pipes and protective sheaths of sensors. This report will present technical matters to improve reliability of the glass-lined protective sheaths of thermocouple. In addition, results of quality confirmation will be presented, which are stress analyses for the glass layer by FEM, tests for heat cycle, bending load and corrosion.