This report describes the results of testing performed by ORNL for Photech Energies, Inc. The objective of the testing was to evaluate the efficacy of Photech's hydrogen generation reactor technology, which produces gaseous hydrogen through electrolysis. Photech provided several prototypes of their proprietary reactor for testing and the ancillary equipment, such as power supplies and electrolyte solutions, required for proper operation of the reactors. ORNL measured the production of hydrogen gas (volumetric flow of hydrogen at atmospheric pressure) as a function of input power and analyzed the composition of the output stream to determine the purity of the hydrogen content. ORNL attempted measurements on two basic versions of the prototype reactors-one version had a clear plastic outer cylinder, while another version had a stainless steel outer cylinder-but was only able to complete measurements on reactors in the plastic version. The problem observed in the stainless steel reactors was that in these reactors most of the hydrogen was produced near the anodes along with oxygen and the mixed gases made it impossible to determine the amount of hydrogen produced. In the plastic reactors the production of hydrogen gas increased monotonically with input power, and the flow rates increased faster at low input powers than they did at higher input powers. The maximum flow rate from the cathode port measured during the tests was 0.85 LPM at an input power of about 1100 W, an electrolyte concentration of 20%. The composition of the flow from the cathode port was primarily hydrogen and water vapor, with some oxygen and trace amounts of carbon dioxide.
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