Electrochemical, Energy, Exergy, and Exergoeconomic Analyses of Hybrid Photocatalytic Hydrogen Production Reactor for Cu–Cl Cycle

The present chapter focuses on both thermoeconomic and electrochemical analyses of a hybrid photocatalytic reactor for hydrogen generation capable of substituting the electrical-driven hydrogen electrolysis subsystem of the Cu–Cl cycle. Several operating parameters, such as current density, reactor temperature, ambient temperature, and electrode distance, are varied to study their effects on hydrogen production rate, hydrogen production cost, and efficiencies. The results obtained from this study show that the voltage drops across the anolyte solution (sol 1), catholyte solution (sol 2), anode, cathode, and cation exchange membrane vary from 0.005 to 0.016 V, 0.004 to 0.013 V, 1.67 to 2.168 V, 0.18 to 0.22 V, and 0.06 to 0.19 V, respectively, with an increase in current density from 0.5 to 1.5 A/cm². It is also observed that the hydrogen production rate and cost of hydrogen production increases from 1.28 to 1.47 L/s and 3.28 to 3.36 C$/kg, respectively, with a rise in the reactor temperature from 290 to 340 K. The energy and exergy analyses of the reactor show that the energy and exergy efficiencies of the hybrid photocatalytic hydrogen production reactor decrease from 5.74% to 4.54% and 5.11% to 4.04%, respectively, with an increase in current density.