Thermochemical water-splitting for H2 generation using sol-gel derived Mn-ferrite in a packed bed reactor

This paper reports synthesis of Mn-ferrite using sol-gel technique, which involved the addition of Mn and Fe salts in ethanol followed by gelation using propylene oxide (PO). As-prepared gels were aged, dried and calcined rapidly upto different temperatures of 600 °C–900 °C and quenched in air. Calcined powders obtained were analyzed using x-ray diffraction, BET surface area analyzer, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The gels calcined rapidly upto 600 °C and quenched in air resulted into a phase pure Mn-ferrite with porous/nanoparticle morphology and higher SSA. The H2 generation ability of the calcined powder was investigated by performing multiple thermochemical cycles in the Inconel packed bed reactor. In addition, the effects of several process parameters such as water-splitting temperature (Tws), regeneration temperature (Treg), regeneration time (treg) and volumetric flow rate of water (vo) on H2 generation ability of Mn-ferrite were investigated in detail.