Annual Report 2006 - Plataforma Solar de Almería

CONCENTRATING SOLAR SYSTEMS UNIT
Economy (IPHE). The application of the solar concentrating technologies to
high-temperature industrial processes is another field of enormous importance,
which at the PSA is channeled through the SOLARPRO project.
3.4.1 Hydrogen Production
Like its European, American and Japanese counterparts, the CIEMAT, as a
national energy research laboratory, is promoting its own hydrogen technology
development program. The weight and goals of the hydrogen production
part of this program are impressive. In spite of all the uncertainties and challenges
posed by the so-called hydrogen economy, it is evident that public
R&D programs are going to give more and more significant support to hydrogen.
The main CIEMAT goal in this field is research and development of efficient,
competitive hydrogen production methods using authochtonous energy
sources, leading to the implantation of the hydrogen economy in Spain, in
both transportation and stationary consumption. The PSA is the basic instrument
for developing hydrogen production processes using the abundant solar
resource available in our country and the excellent knowledge of solar concentrating
technologies applicable to reactors operating at temperatures over
1,000ºC. Activity is concentrated in two lines of action (Figure 3.21).
• Development of fossil fuel decarbonization processes and technologies
giving them added value by solar gaisification, with special attention to
low-quality carbonacious materials.
• Pre-commercial demonstration of the technical and economic feasibility
of water-splitting for hydrogen production in thermochemical cycles
with concentrated solar energy.
These lines of R&D are complemented by participation in international forums
and work groups, feasibility studies and roadmaps such as INNOHYP
Roadmap for thermochemical hydrogen production (INNO-
HYP Project: Innovative High Temperature Routes for Hydrogen
Production)
Participants: CEA (F) coordinator, CIEMAT (E), Empresarios Agrupados (E),
ENEA (I), DLR (D), Univ. Sheffield (UK), JRC-Petten (UE), CSIRO (Australia).
Contact:
François Le Naour, francois.le-naour@cea.fr
PSA Contact: Manuel Romero, manuel.romero@ciemat.es
Funding:
Proyecto cofinanciado por la CE. Presupuesto total: 617 k€. Presupuesto
CIEMAT: 55 k€.
Duration: September 1, 2004 – December 31, 2006
Motivation: The accelerated development of the so-called hydrogen economy
must unavoidably be through innovative technologies for its mass production
without contaminating emissions and at competitive prices. The use of themrochemical
cycles that achieve thermal decomposition of the water molecule
in consecutive redox stages is extraordinarily attractive, but requires the use
of a clean, inexhaustible energy source, such as solar energy. The number of
thermochemical cycles analyzed in the literature is enormous, but most of the
options have only been studied theoretically or at the most at laboratory
scale. The interest in a roadmap is to compile the information available on the
various processes and propose joint master lines of action in the European
arena.
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