Combined hydrogen and electricity production from aqueous ammonia feed

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11820657-B2
Application number	US-202217938223-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 5, 2022
Priority date	Oct 6, 2021
Publication date	Nov 21, 2023
Grant date	Nov 21, 2023

Abstract

A system and a method for producing hydrogen and electrical power from an aqueous ammonia solution are provided. An exemplary system includes a distillation unit to produce ammonia gas from the aqueous ammonia solution, a compression unit to boost the pressure of the ammonia gas, a membrane separator to catalytically convert the ammonia gas to nitrogen and hydrogen and remove the hydrogen as a permeate, and a micro turbine to combust a retentate to generate energy.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for producing hydrogen and electrical power from an aqueous ammonia solution, comprising:
a distillation unit to produce ammonia gas from the aqueous ammonia solution;
a compression unit to boost the pressure of the ammonia gas;
a membrane separator to convert the ammonia gas to nitrogen and hydrogen and remove the hydrogen as a permeate; and
a micro turbine to combust a retentate to generate energy.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the distillation unit comprises a multistage distillation column.

3. The system of claim 1 , wherein the compression unit comprises a multistage compressor.

4. The system of claim 1 , comprising a heat exchanger downstream of the compression unit to heat the ammonia gas to an operating temperature for the membrane separator.

5. The system of claim 1 , wherein a membrane in the membrane separator comprises a catalyst that converts the ammonia gas to nitrogen and hydrogen.

6. The system of claim 5 , wherein the catalyst comprises palladium.

7. The system of claim 5 , wherein the catalyst comprises a palladium alloy.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein a membrane in the membrane separator comprises a protonic conducting membrane.

9. The system of claim 1 , wherein a membrane in the membrane separator comprises an electrochemical conversion system.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the micro turbine comprises a recuperator.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the retentate comprises ammonia, hydrogen, or nitrogen, or any combinations thereof.

12. The system of claim 1 , comprising a fueling station for fuel cell electric vehicles (FECV).

13. The system of claim 1 , comprising a charging station for electric vehicles (EV).

14. The system of claim 1 , wherein the energy comprises heat from an exhaust stream of the micro turbine.

15. The system of claim 1 , wherein the energy comprises electricity from a generator coupled to the micro turbine.

Assignees

• Saudi Arabian Oil Co

Inventors

• Al-Khowaiter Ahmad O
• Jamal Aqil
• Lee Kunho

Classifications

• C01B3/047 Primary

  Decomposition of ammonia · CPC title

• C01B2203/0277

  containing a catalytic decomposition step · CPC title

• C01B2203/0405

  Purification by membrane separation · CPC title

• C01B2203/041

  In-situ membrane purification during hydrogen production · CPC title

• C01B2203/06

  Integration with other chemical processes · CPC title