Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting – deodorizing – preser – Chemical reactor – With means applying electromagnetic wave energy or...
Patent
1992-05-21
1993-01-19
Robinson, Douglas W.
Chemical apparatus and process disinfecting, deodorizing, preser
Chemical reactor
With means applying electromagnetic wave energy or...
422198, 422235, 165166, F28D 700, B01J 804, F28F 300
Patent
active
051805600
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
The invention involves an apparatus for the dehydrogenation of liquid hydrides with a chemical reactor, designed as a heat exchanger, for the dehydrogenation of heated vaporous hydride, a heat exchanger fluid to heat the hydride, at least one combustion chamber to heat the heat exchanger fluid by burning hydrogen, at least one heat exchanger to heat the hydride fed to the reactor using the heat exchanger fluid or the dehydrogenation products leaving the reactor, at least one heat exchanger to cool down the dehydrogenation products leaving the reactor and at least one storage container for the cooled dehydrogenation products leaving the reactor.
In particular, the invention refers to an apparatus for the dehydrogenation of liquid hydrides suitable to drive hydrogen-powered vehicles.
A fundamental problem in the development of practical vehicles driven by means of hydrogen-powered combustion engines is how to store the hydrogen suitably in the vehicles. In this regard, it has proven useful from various points of view to make use of the organic-chemical storage of hydrogen in liquid hydrides. Methyl cyclohexane, which is a liquid that can be stored in simple tanks under normal pressure and at a normal temperature, is especially suited as a liquid hydride. The hydrogen is stored by dehydrogenation of toluene to methyl cyclohexane.
Methyl cyclohexane is pumped into the vehicle as a liquid hydride carrier. The vehicle contains a dehydrogenation system in which the methyl cyclohexane (MCH) is split into toluene and hydrogen in a chemical reactor using the application of heat and a suitable catalyst. The hydrogen recovered in this way is stored temporarily and used mainly to drive the hydrogen-powered combustion engine, but in part also to generate the heat in the reactor required for dehydrogenation. The liquid toluene produced during dehydrogenation is also stored and returned to the pump the next time the vehicle is filled up. The toluene can then be dehydrogenated once again to MCH in suitable dehydrogenation plants, closing the cycle.
Appropriate test set-ups were developed which showed that the aforesaid process can definitely be realized in practice. However, in the case of these test set-ups the dehydrogenation system including the necessary auxiliary equipment and measuring equipment, was of such a volume that it took up the space of the loading area of a truck or of a trailer. This is one of the basic reasons why this technology is not yet realizable in practice at present.
The objective of the invention, therefore, is to create an apparatus for the dehydrogenation of liquid hydrides of the type mentioned at the beginning. These hydrides are especially distinguished by the fact that they are compact, lightweight and inexpensive to produce.
As claimed, this objective is essentially solved by the fact that the chemical reactor and the heat exchangers are all plate-shaped, that the plate-shaped heat exchangers are stacked side by side, that a storage container is placed on each front end of the heat exchanger stack and the two storage containers enclose the heat exchanger stack between them, that plates acting as tie rods are place on both sides of the stack (these plates being attached to opposite end sections of the storage containers and at a distance from the heat exchanger stack) and that at least one combustion chamber as well as baffle and connecting channels, via which the various heat exchangers are linked together, are placed in the space between the side plates and the opposite sides of the heat exchanger stack.
The plate-shape region of the heat exchangers and their stack-shaped arrangement creates an extremely space-saving configuration. As the reaction medium is under a pressure of 10 to 20 bar, the apparatus must be very stable. This high stability is attained through the especially simple structural method of placing the heat exchanger packet between the storage containers located at the ends, which can be made of sufficiently strong material, and through the side plates, which function as t
REFERENCES:
patent: 3759322 (1973-09-01), Nasser et al.
Mohamed Nasser
Reardon Timothy J.
Robinson Douglas W.
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