Hydrodynamics of cupric chloride hydrolysis in a fluidized bed for nuclear hydrogen production

The copper-chlorine (Cu-Cl) cycle has been identified by Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd. (AECL) as a promising cycle for thermochemical hydrogen production with a Super-Critical Water Reactor (SCWR). Currently a research group at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) is building an integrated laboratory demonstration of the Cu-Cl cycle for 5 kg H₂/day. This paper reports on the hydrodynamics of a reaction of cupric chloride particles with superheated steam in a fluidized bed reactor, as part of a Cu-Cl thermochemical cycle. Input heat to the cycle is supplied partly by waste heat for production of hydrogen, through splitting of water into oxygen and hydrogen. A numerical analysis is carried out to study the effects of the bed's operating parameters, such as the superficial gas velocity and bed inventory on bed height, average bubble diameter and bed void fraction. The results are presented for both a lab-scale and full-scale bed reactor. The consistency of the computed results is observed for both cases. When increasing the superficial velocity of the fluidizing gas (steam), it results in a taller bed height, larger mean bubble diameter and larger bed void fraction. Similar results are obtained with respect to the bed inventory. However, when it rises, the bed void fraction becomes smaller at a given gas velocity. Furthermore, it is shown that when the sphericity factor of the solid particles increases, the bed height decreases. These results provide useful new insight into the transport phenomena analysis of the reaction of copper chloride with steam.