Overview of the Copper-Chlorine Cycle

In collaboration with Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, Argonne National Laboratory (USA), and other partners, a UOIT-led team of researchers in Ontario and abroad is developing a new method of producing hydrogen using a copper-chlorine (Cu-Cl) cycle that splits water into hydrogen and oxygen.

The chemical reactions form a closed loop that recycles all chemicals on a continuous basis, without emitting any greenhouse gases to the atmosphere. The Cu-Cl cycle could be eventually linked with Canada's nuclear reactors to achieve significantly higher efficiencies and lower costs of large-scale hydrogen production than any conventional technology. The project involves a multi-disciplinary team of researchers that is developing the key enabling technologies, including spray coatings for advanced materials (University of Toronto), solution chemistry (University of Guelph), control systems and safety (University of Western Ontario) and others.

Advantages

Steam-methane reforming, electrolysis and the sulfur-iodine (S-I) thermochemical cycle are other methods of hydrogen production. The main advantages of the copper-chlorine (Cu-Cl) cycle over existing technologies are:

• Higher efficiency, lower costs, lower environmental impact and reduced greenhouse gas emissions;
• More than a one-third improvement in efficiency over electrolysis, excluding additional gains by utilizing "waste heat";
• Much lower temperatures than other thermochemical cycles, thereby reducing material and maintenance costs; and
• Utilizes low-grade waste heat available from sources like power plants, thereby improving cycle and power plant efficiency.

Impacts

This project is having a significant impact on UOIT, partners and the Province of Ontario. The innovative vision of nuclear-based hydrogen production in Ontario has ignited the imagination and attention of the general public through media coverage in regional and national news articles about such things as future trains that are fueled by nuclear-produced hydrogen. New technology is being developed to recover waste heat from power plants for hydrogen and electricity production. Equipment scale-up of the Cu-Cl processes is demonstrating the commercial viability of thermochemical hydrogen production on a large scale. Furthermore, through training of highly qualified personnel such as master's and doctoral students, the project is providing significant benefits to the training of future leaders in the energy sector.