Radiant Energy Transfer

Submitted by
P. Marshal Raj,
962213407009,
IInd Semester,
M.E – Energy Engineering,
SXCCE,
07-05-2014.

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Abstract
As the population increases, the need for transportation increases, which raises the use
of fossil fuel. As the fossil fuel undergoes combustion in the engine, the major gases in the
exhaust are NOx, SO2, H2O, CO, CO2 and traces of other gases. In these gases other than CO2 and
H2O all other gases are direct pollutant to the atmosphere. CO2 is the gas which comes under
the category indirect pollutant. As the engine designers design their engine for complete
combustion, which is all the carbon and hydrogen to be converted into CO 2 and H2O.
Reduction of NOx can be done by reducing the combustion temperature of the fossil fuel
inside the combustion chamber. The other pollutants (SO 2, CO, CO2) can be reduced by reducing
the Sulfur and Carbon in the fuel. But all the fossil fuels are hydrocarbons and they all contain
traces of sulfur.
So the reduction of the pollutants from the combustion of IC engines can only be done
by changing the fuel. A fuel doesn’t have carbon, traces of sulfur, which is only “hydrogen”.
Hydrogen is a pollution free fuel; the only exhaust of the IC engine using hydrogen is
water (steam that can be converted into water by cooling).
Hydrogen can be produced by electrolysis. Even though the efficiency of electrolysis is
between 50% - 95% it is a slow process under the presence of catalyst. For a large scale
production of hydrogen electrolysis is not a suitable production process. So the production
process has to be switched for a fast process for production of Hydrogen.
The new production technique for the production of hydrogen for a large scale and fast
process is “Radiant Energy Transfer (RET)”.

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Patent
The technology is under the U.S Patent – 7,384,619.

Radiant Energy
The energy content of the Electromagnetic Radiation is called radiant energy.

Radiation
Radiation is energy that comes from a source and travels through some material or
through space. Light, heat and sound are types of radiation. Radiation ranges from
1. Frequency : 300 exahertz (1018) - 3 Hertz
12
2. Wavelength : 1 picometer (10 ) - 100 megameter
3. Energy level : 1.24 mega electron volts - 12.4 femto electron
volt
The natural source of radiation is The Sun. It emits radiation of infrared rays, visible light
and ultraviolet rays in the range of
1. Wavelength : 10-8 - 10-3 m
2. Frequency : 1017 - 1011 Hz

Electronvolt
Electronvolt is defined as the amount of energy gained (or lost) by the charge of a
single electron moved across an electric potential difference of one volt.
1 electron volt = 1.602176565(35) ×10−19 J

Water
Water is a chemical compound of two hydrogen atom and one oxygen atom. It can be of
three stages (solid, liquid and gas) in atmospheric pressure with different temperatures.
Water consists of two covalent bonds, each between one hydrogen atom.

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Chemical Bond
A chemical bond is an attraction between atoms that allows the formation of chemical
substances that contain two or more atoms.

Covalent Bond
A covalent chemical bond results from the sharing of electrons between two
atoms with similar electronegativities. A single covalent bond represents the sharing of two
valance electrons.

Bond strength of O-H molecule = 366 kJ/mol

Energy required dissociating H2O = 2 x 366 = 732 kJ/mol.
-21
Energy required to dissociate 1 H2O = 1.22 x 10 kJ

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 Radiant Energy Transfer

Principle
When steam at superheated state is allowed to pass through the area containing a
electromagnetic radiation, the water molecule absorb the energy equal to the O-H bond and
dissociate into Hydrogen (H2) and Oxygen (O2).

Construction
The Radiant energy transfer device consists of a horizontal cylindrical vessel with a
perforated tube which only allow hydrogen atom to pass through. The radiation emitting device
is placed at the top of the horizontal cylindrical vessel. The vessel consists of one inlet for steam
from the steam turbine and two outlets, one for hydrogen through the perforated tube and the
other for the oxygen both for separate tanks.

Working
The RET device can only dissociate steam into hydrogen and oxygen. When steam is
passed through the electromagnetic radiation, the bond between the hydrogen and oxygen
atom gains energy from the radiation and dissociates to form molecules of hydrogen and
oxygen. Once oxygen and hydrogen are formed, they have to be handled with high care, as they
are high explosive when together in a controlled area. The hydrogen is separated from oxygen
by a tubular filter at the axis of the RET container. It only allows hydrogen to pass and block

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oxygen from entering the filter. Thus separated hydrogen and oxygen are stored in separate
container and supplied to houses for domestic use.

Cogeneration
The cost for the process of hydrogen production is very high because the power
required for steam generation is high, and creates more pollution and makes the process of RET
a not required one. So the RET technology is coupled with the geothermal power plant. In this
the sea water is pumped into the Earth crust and steam produced is used to operate a steam
turbine, which produce power, the steam coming out of the steam turbine is fed to the RET
device to get dissociated into Hydrogen and Oxygen. The power output of the steam turbine
generator is used to operate the radiation producing device.

Advantages
1. Pollution free operation.
2. No affect to the fresh water bodies.
3. No additional power from the grid is required for the operation of any device.

Disadvantages
1. Initial investment is high.
2. High safety to be maintained.
3. Require large space for storing hydrogen and oxygen.
4. Both the gases to be cooled before storing.

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