Development of a Novel Thermochemical Cycle Without Electrolysis Step to Produce Hydrogen

This study presents a new three-step Cu-Cl cycle that can operate with heat input without electrolysis. While the sensitivity analyses of the system are performed to evaluate the system performance through the Aspen Plus, thermodynamic analyses of the system are performed with energetic and exergetic approaches. The highest exergy destruction among the components in the system was the decomposition reactor with a rate of 50.6%. Furthermore, the energy and exergy values for the simulated system to produce 1 mol of hydrogen were determined by calculating the energy requirements of all components in the system. The total energy required for the system to generate 1 mol of hydrogen is calculated to be 997.81 kJ/mol H2. It was found that the component that required the most energy, 504.76 kJ/mol H2, in the system was the decomposition reactor. Moreover, the overall energy and exergy efficiencies are calculated to be 72.50% and 46.70%, respectively.