Mobile multianalysis device for flows occurring in power-to-X and hydrogen technologies and applications

• Subject Area: Fluid Mechanics ; Biological Process Engineering ; Chemical and Thermal Process Engineering ; Energy Process Engineering ; Atmospheric Science
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 514139948

To limit climate change and overcome dependence on fossil fuels for political reasons, the European "Green Deal" demands intense research on renewable energies and the reduction of greenhouse gases. In various renewable processes, such as Power-to-X (PtX-) and hydrogen producing technologies, electrical energy is converted to chemical energy. The composition of the process gases and exhaust air, or process particles plays a decisive role, e.g., in electrolysis processes for the industrial production of green hydrogen, the binding of the climate-damaging greenhouse gas CO2, e.g., in methane cracking or in the production of high-value chemicals through direct CO2 hydrogenation. On the one hand, climate-damaging or even toxic gases are to be avoided or bound to protect the environment. On the other hand, the gas composition, as well as the process particles, can also have an impact on downstream components or processes which usually leads to increased reactor wear and process waste. However, the process products are often influenced by many process parameters. In particular, flow control plays a crucial role but is often poorly understood. In addition, many trace gases in the process are not easily detectable and are insufficiently monitored. Therefore, we would like to install a measurement device at the HAW Hamburg that enables simultaneous investigation of process gases and flow guidance/transport in biochemical processes with the highest precision. Thus, the mutual influence of gas/particle composition and flow guidance in different processes during operation can be investigated. To our knowledge, such a device that can be used to simultaneously study gas-/particle composition and flow transport is unique in the world. So far, there are only a few research sites worldwide that have either the necessary equipment for observing gas composition or studying flow transport, but not both at the same time. The objective of this large-scale device project is to construct and commission a mobile multi-analysis device for gas and liquid flows. The device is divided into in-situ and ex-situ measurement technology. The in-situ measurement technology consists of a high-speed camera setup for particle tracking (4D-PTV) and flow visualization as well as photoacoustic spectroscopy (PAS) for measuring the gas composition. The ex-situ instrumentation consists of a gas chromatograph (GC) for gas composition validation and a laser diffraction spectrometer (LDS) for particle size distribution measurement. The multi-analysis device plays a crucial role in a number of current and planned projects at the HAW Hamburg in the thematic area of energy transition. Thus, we expect that our experimental capabilities in various projects, e.g., methane cracking, electrolysis, and reactor management, will be improved in such a relevant way that we can make a decisive contribution to the breakthrough of these technologies in the next few years.

• DFG Programme: Major Instrumentation Initiatives
• Major Instrumentation: 4D Strömungstransportmesstechnik ; GC - Gasanalyse
• Instrumentation Group: 1520 Meßgeräte für Gase (O2, CO2) ; 8860 Geschwindigkeitsmeßgeräte (außer 047, 053, 192 und 244)
• Applicant Institution: Hochschule für Angewandte Wissenschaften Hamburg
• Leader: Professorin Dr. Alexandra von Kameke