Tech Briefs Magazine - November 2024 - 10

Q & A
All-Electric, High-Heat
Thermochemical Reactor
Professor Jonathan
Fan and his team at
Stanford Engineering
have designed and
demonstrated a new
type of thermochemical
reactor
that
can
generate the immense
amounts of heat required
for many industrial processes by using
electricity instead of burning fossil fuels.
Tech Briefs: What inspired your
research?
Jonathan Fan: This research was inspired
by the urgent need to decarbonize
industrial chemical processes that
rely on high-grade heat traditionally
produced through the combustion of
fossil fuels. Our goal was to harness
green electricity to efficiently drive
thermochemical reactions, offering a
sustainable alternative to fossil fuels.
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learn more
Tech Briefs: What got you thinking
about inductive heating?
Fan: Inductive heating caught our attention
because of its advantages, such
as high efficiency, wireless contact, and
scalability. Unlike traditional heating
methods, inductive heating allows for
direct and volumetric energy transfer
without requiring physical contact. This
leads to uniform power densities and
reduces parasitic heat losses.
Tech Briefs: What are some types of
industrial processes that thermochemical
reactors are used for?
Fan: Thermochemical reactors are critical
to a wide range of industrial processes
that require high-grade heat to drive
chemical reactions. These include the
production of fuels, hydrogen, and other
chemicals, through steam methane reforming,
and ammonia synthesis. They
are also used to produce materials like
cement and steel. We have used our reactor
to power a chemical reaction,
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Tech Briefs: Could you tell me about
your prototype?
Fan: Our reactor is powered by a
custom power amplifier that drives the
AC magnetic field and operates in the
100 W range at a frequency of 6.78
MHz. The amplifier is designed using
wide bandgap semiconductor switches
that can efficiently convert DC power
to megahertz frequencies at high efficiencies.
Our choice to perform magnetic
induction at such a high frequency
is based on detailed co-design
of the power electronics with the reactor
baffle, where we found that high
frequency induction together with a
properly designed three-dimensional
baffle was required to enable highly
efficient volumetric heating.
Tech Briefs: How does its efficiency
compare to conventional ones?
Fan: In contrast to conventional fossil
fuel-based reactors, our reactors have
the potential to be much smaller and
less costly because they do not require
infrastructure such as external boilers
and heat exchanger infrastructure.
Tech Briefs: Do you have any
thoughts on its commercialization?
Fan: There are still key areas of development
that need to be tackled, such as
adapting our concept to pressurized environments.
Looking ahead, we anticipate
that the initial use case for these
reactor systems will be new modular installations
built in the vicinity of sustainable
feedstocks and green electricity.
To read the full interview, visit
www.techbriefs.com.
Tech Briefs, November 2024
called the reverse water-gas shift reaction,
which converts CO2
and H2
utilization, as both H2
into
CO and water. This reaction is crucial
for CO2
and CO
are building blocks for synthesizing sustainable
fuels and chemicals.
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Tech Briefs Magazine - November 2024

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