27　Hydrogen Generation using Metal Oxidation Reaction of Zinc and Solar Heat

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to generate hydrogen using solar energy and the metal oxidation reaction of zinc. A Fresnel lens is used to concentrate sunlight to heat and evaporate Zn, which is then reacted with superheated steam to generate and collect ZnO and H2. The generated ZnO is then heated by concentrating sunlight again to regenerate Zn. Normally, a Fresnel lens is used as a heat collector to use sunlight as energy, but this time an electric furnace was used instead of sunlight to perform a simplified experiment. The maximum amount of hydrogen obtained was 756 mL when the experimental conditions were H2O: 18.11 g, Zn: 5.98 g. From this, it can be expected that the amount of hydrogen obtained will increase when the amount of superheated steam reacted with the amount of zinc to be reacted is about 3 to 4 times the mass. If there is a sufficient amount of superheated steam relative to the amount of zinc, the amount of hydrogen obtained will increase, but if there is an insufficient amount of superheated steam, the amount of hydrogen obtained will decrease.