IMPLEMENTATION OF AN INDUSTRIAL CONTROL SYSTEM FOR THE GENERATION, COMPRESSION, AND STORAGE OF HYDROGEN FROM RENEWABLE SOURCES

This thesis implemented a control system to integrate the generation and compression of hydrogen gas to enable its production from renewable sources at remote locations. To mimic renewable power commercial-off-the-shelf power supplies were used to power the system. For the control system, programmable logic controllers were used to monitor and operate the overall system’s various components. The harvesting of water from the atmosphere, via Peltier dehumidifiers, was found to be intermittent and is the limiting factor for hydrogen yield in the existing system. Hydrogen gas was generated by an electrolyzer at an average mass flow rate of 5.52e-7 kg/s. The membrane dehumidifier installed to dry the saturated hydrogen gas was found to be ineffective. An electrochemical hydrogen compressor was used to compress hydrogen gas to the steady state maximum outlet pressure of 7492 kPa at an average mass flow rate of 4.3773e-10 kg/s. This research demonstrated it is possible to autonomously produce compressed hydrogen gas from renewable sources. Additionally, improvements have been identified for implementation in future system designs.Outstanding ThesisLieutenant, United States NavyApproved for public release. Distribution is unlimited