| Author | Walaiporn Mooksuwan |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.ET-99-35 |
| Subject(s) | Heat pumps
|
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science, School of Environment, Resources and Development |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Abstract | Low-temperature thermal energy can be upgraded to a higher temperature thermal
energy by using a heat pump. Among the heat pumps proposed, a 2-
Propanol/ Acetone/Hydrogen chemical heat pump is a promising one. This research was aimed
to study experimentally the performance of this system using a catalyst that has not been
studied earlier.
Model for estimating the reaction conversion and theoretical heat energy associated
with the reaction has been developed. The results of the simulation have been compared with
the literature and the experimental studies.
Experiments on 2-propanol dehydrogenation were conducted between the temperature
range of 60 °C to 80 °C with a 10 wt% Ru-Pt/ activated C suspended in liquid 2-propanol to
study the influences of reaction temperature, catalyst concentration and acetone concentration
in liquid reactant on the performance of 2-propanol dehydrogenation. The maximum initial
reaction rate 54 mmole/h-g was obtained at reaction temperature 75°C to 80°C with 400 mg
catalyst suspended in 300 ml of 2-propanol (1.3 g/l). The maximum heat utilization of 4.5 %
was obtained when oil bath temperature was 100°C and 1.3 g/l of catalyst concentration. This
is, however, low when compared to the heat utilization factor of a falling film reactor.
Experiments on acetone hydrogenation were conducted at the catalyst bed temperature
range of 110 °C to 150 °C with 10 wt% Ni-Cu/y-Ah03 suspended the U-tube reactor to find
the influences of reaction temperature, catalyst weight and flow rate of hydrogen and acetone
on the performance of this reaction. The maximum acetone conversion of 25% was obtained at
inlet temperature of 120°C with 0.5651 gm catalyst (the catalyst bed temperature of 150 °C)
and hydrogen and acetone flow rate of 0.0153 mole/min and 0.0025 mole/min. For different
catalyst bed temperature, the conversion of acetone obtained at hydrogen-acetone (H/A) mole
ratio of 4 to 10 seems to be constant, but it tends to decrease at higher H/ A mole ratio (more
than 9).
A study of a combined hydrogenation - dehydrogenation system has been done based
on data obtained from the experimental studies and the heat released at the exothermic reactor
for various inlet (endothermic) conditions, the influence of catalyst quantities, etc have been
studied. |
| Year | 1999 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Energy Technology (ET) |
| Chairperson(s) | Kumar, Sivanappan |
| Examination Committee(s) | Surapong Chirarattananon ;Pham, Hoang Luong; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Government of France; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 1999 |
