Date of Award

2014-01-01

Degree Name

Master of Science

Department

Mechanical Engineering

Advisor(s)

Evgeny Shafirovich

Abstract

Finding and developing a safe and effective method for hydrogen storage is integral to its use as an alternative source of energy. The goal of the studies described in this Thesis was to investigate the feasibility of developing combustible hydrogen-generating compositions based on ammonia borane and novel energetic materials such as nanocomposite and mechanically alloyed reactive materials, recently obtained by Prof. Edward Dreizin's team at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT). Such compositions could be stored for long time and release hydrogen on demand, upon ignition. The first phase of the research included thermodynamic calculations for combustion of ammonia borane with various reactive materials obtained at NJIT. The second phase involved experiments with compositions that appeared to be promising based on thermodynamic calculations. An experimental setup with laser ignition of mixtures was developed for these experiments. As a result of these tests, further work was focused on mixtures of ammonia borane, gelled water, and mechanically alloyed Al/Mg powder. The last part of the research revealed the reaction mechanisms during combustion of these mixtures. For this purpose, isotopic tests, involving use of heavy water and mass-spectroscopy of gaseous combustion products, were conducted. The results of the present work indicate that combustible mixtures of ammonia borane, water, and mechanically alloyed Al/Mg powder are promising for the development of hydrogen generators that release large amounts of hydrogen upon ignition.

Language

en

Provenance

Received from ProQuest

File Size

74 pages

File Format

application/pdf

Rights Holder

Daniel Rodriguez

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