Karen Mae L.

Fernan BS Chemistry 3 Homework 6B

Feb. 05, 2013

1. Describe a direct and an indirect way to produce electricity from solar energy. Sunlight is the cleanest, most abundant and renewable source of energy. It is a sustainable resource but can be maintained. Solar energy consists of heat and light energy, both of which move in the form of electromagnetic waves. Solar energy refers to the conversion of the suns rays into useful forms of energy, such as eletricity or heat. This energy comes to us free an nonpolluting. Concentrating and converting this energy to a useful form may be difficult and costly. The amount of solar energy a location gets varies on different factors such as geographical location, time of day, season, landscape and weather.

There are many ways in order to harness solar energy. Some of them are through solar electric (photovoltaics), solar heating and cooling, concentrating solar power and passive solar. Active solar systems include the first three mentioned which use mechanical or electrical devices that convert the energy from the sun to another form of usable energy. Passive solar energy technologies absorb solar energy, store and distribute it in a natural manner without using mechanical elements. Solar energy systems do not produce air pollutants and have minimal impact on the environment but the amount of sunligth that arrives the earths surface is not constant and a large surface area is required to collect the enrgy at a useful rate. There are two classifications for solar power that denote exactly how the solar energy is used: direct and indirect. Direct solar energy converts sulight into a useful energy in just one step. It only involves the absorbing of sunlight by a solar cell and is then immediately converted into electricity. Photovolataic cells are a direct form of energy. Indirect solar energy converts sunlight into useful energy in one or more intermediary steps; an example is from a natural

process such as photosynthesis. Photosynthesis is a process in which a plant absorbs the sunlight and converts it into chemical energy.

The stored solar energy can be in the form of natural gas, coal and oil fom natural resources. Hydroelectric popwer, wind and wave power are also forms of indirect solar energy because the sun is involved in the generation of wind movement causing waves. 2. What is the large limiting factor in growing biomass for fuel, and in what respect does this limit hold hope for the eventual use of biomass fuel? Biomass is a solar energy that has been stored as plant and animal material. Biomass fuel refers to anything that can either burn or decompose. Bioenergy technologies use renewable organic sources, called biomass, to produce many energy related products such as electricity, heat, chemicals and other materials. Biomass fuels are starting to become more popular due to the rising costs of fossil fuels. Some examples of materials that make up biomass fuels are scrap lumber, forest debris, certain crops and even manure.

Raw biomass is bulky with a low energy density and direct combustion is generally highly inefficient producing high levels of indoor and outdoor pollution. The goal of modernized biomass energy is to increase the fuels energy density while decreasing tis emissions during production and use. 3. What are the three reactions used in biomass gasification? Explain each. Gasification is a partial oxidation process where a carbon source such as coal, natural gas or biomass is broken down into carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrogen (H 2) plus carbon dioxide (CO2) and hydrocabon molecules. The mix of gases or product gas and its characteristics depend on the gasification parameters such as temperature and oxidizer. The reaction takes place at temperatures above 1000 degrees celsius. There are three reactions used in biomass gasification: The combustion zone, reaction zone and pyrolysis zone. In the combustion zone, the combustible substanceof the solid is usually composed of the elements carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Carbon dioxide is obtained from the carbon in fuel and water is obtained from the hydrogen as steam in complete combustion. The combustion reaction is exothermic. The main reactions are : C + O2 = CO2 (+ 393 MJ/kg mole) 2H2 + O2 = 2H2O (- 242 MJ/kg mole) (1) (2)

In the reaction zone, the products of partial combustion now pass through a red hot charcoal bed where the reduction reaction takes place. Reactions three and four are the main reduction reactions and are endothermic; having the capability of reducing gas temperature. Temperatures are usually at 800 1000 degrees celsius. The lower the reduction zone temperature, the lower is the calorific value of the gas. C + CO2 = 2CO (- 164.9 MJ/kg mole) (3) C + H2O = CO + H2 (- 122.6 MJ/kg mole) (4) CO + H2O = CO + H2 (+ 42 MJ/kg mole) (5) C + 2H2 = CH4 (+ 75 MJ/kg mole) (6) CO2 + H2 = CO + H2O (- 42.3 MJ/kg mole) (7) In the pyrolysis zone, the products depend upon the temperature, pressure, residence time and heat losses. The real pyrolysis takes place at temperatures 280 500 degrees celsius and produce large tar and gases containing carbon dioxide. Between 500 700 degrees celsius, the gas production is small and contains hydrogen. 4. List an application in which a regenerative fuel cell would have great advantages over the other types of fuel cells. Regenerative fuel cells produce electricity from oxygen and hydrogen and generate heat and water as by-products just like any other types of fuel cells. This type of fuel cell system can also use electricity from solar power or some othr source to divide the excess water into oxygen and hydrogen fuel by elctrolysis. The cells contain an electrolyte solution and a metal. The elecrolyte solution is dissociated in one cell into hydrogen and oxygen during the day by

addition of electricity, which is generatd by means of solar panels. The hydrogen and oxygen would flow into a storage container. At night, the hydrogen and oxygen would flow into the fuel cell where they are released and converted into water and release energy. The closed system of regenerative fuel cell could have a significant advantage because it could enable the operation of a fuel cell power system without requiring a new hydrogen infrastructure. Regenerative fuel cell systems offer many advantages over other competing energy storage systems for the Space Station application.

References: Benefits of Recycling. Indirect Solar Energy. http://www.benefits-ofrecycling.com/indirectsolarenergy/ (Date accessed: February 05, 2013) Energy from the Sun. Direct and Indirect Solar Energy. http://energyfromthesun.wikispaces.com/3+-+Direct+and+Indirect+Solar+Energy (Date accessed: February 05, 2013) Renewable Energy. The Infinite Power of Texas. Electricity From the Sun. http://www.infinitepower.org/newfact/new96-810-No05.pdf (Date accessed: February 05, 2013) Biomass Energy Centre. Gasification. http://www.biomassenergycentre.org.uk/portal/page?_pageid=75,17504&_dad=portal &_schema=PORTAL (Date accessed: February 05, 2013) Biomass Gasification. http://www.nariphaltan.org/gasbook.pdf (Date accessed: February 05, 2013) Fuel Cells. Green Power. http://www.lanl.gov/orgs/mpa/mpa11/Green%20Power.pdf ( Date accessed: February 05, 2013)