Green and low-cost hydrogen production from aluminum and water

CHED 1093

Christyn Thibodeaux, cthibod1@xula.edu1, Desiree Smith, dsmith27@xula.edu1, Nsoki Phambu, nphambu@tnstate.edu2, and Anderson Sunda Meya, asundame@xula.edu1. (1) Department of Physics and Dual Engineering, Xavier University of Louisiana, 1 Drexel Dr, New Orleans, LA 70125, (2) Department of Chemistry, Tennessee State University, 3500 John A Merritt Blvd, Nashville, TN 37209
Interest in hydrogen fuel production has grown dramatically, along with advances in hydrogen production, storage and utilization technologies. Hydrogen has great potential as a carbon-free fuel source. However, hydrogen is still three to four times as expensive to produce as gasoline. In this work, hydrogen has been produced using cheap raw materials such as tap water and recycled waste aluminum. The hydrogen production has been monitored and quantified as a function of time, temperature, and pH value of water. The physical properties of the aluminum samples used to produce hydrogen gas have been characterized using AFM, SEM, IR and Raman spectroscopy. The effects of mass transfer, migration, gas evolution, kinetics of electrodes, parasitic reaction and ohmic losses in the electrolyte are considered. Furthermore, to optimize the design and operation of an aluminum–water battery system, a mathematical model that can predict the aluminum–water unit cell performance has been proposed
 

Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Environmental Chemistry
2:00 PM-4:00 PM, Monday, April 7, 2008 Morial Convention Center -- Hall A, Poster

Division of Chemical Education

The 235th ACS National Meeting, New Orleans, LA, April 6-10, 2008