Industrial Heat Driven Thermochemical Redox Cycle

• This project develops hydrogen production technologies based on thermochemical water splitting using redox-active metal oxides. Metal oxides are thermally reduced to form oxygen vacancies and re-oxidized with steam to produce hydrogen without direct CO₂ emissions. We focus on utilizing high-temperature process heat from steelmaking industries, optimizing redox materials through simulations, and developing electro-assisted thermochemical water splitting for lower-temperature operation. The system is validated through experiments.

• Funding : Thermochemical water splitting & hydrogen production using high-temperature industrial heat (2025-2026, NRF)

• Yehyeong(예형), Taekyung(태경) and Jimin(지민) is working on this work. 

Thermochemical energy storage

• This research aims to develop a technology for low-cost hydrogen production and long-duration thermal energy storage through thermochemical redox cycles utilizing ceria (CeO₂), powered by surplus renewable energy. By feeding excess electricity — generated due to the intermittent nature of solar and wind power — into the thermal reduction step, this approach enables the utilization of otherwise curtailed power for hydrogen production, thereby enhancing the economic viability of both hydrogen production and energy storage. In parallel, system-level simulation and techno-economic analysis are being conducted to assess the feasibility and efficiency of large-scale implementation.

• Funding : Thermochemical redox cycles based on renewable power and industrial heat for hydrogen production and long-duration thermal energy storage (2026-2031, NRF)

• Taekyung(태경) is working on this work. 

Polymer electrolyte membrane electrolysis model development

• Developed electrochemical simulation model of polymer electrolyte membrane cell.

• Model was constructed based on MATLAB/SIMULINK.

• It was funded by KIMM.

Alkaline electrolysis model development

Dohyung Jang , Wonjae Choi, Hyun-Seok Cho, Won Chul Cho, Chang Hee Kim, Sanggyu Kang 

Journal of Power Sources, 2021. DOI: 10.1016/j.jpowsour.2021.230106 

• Developed electrochemical simulation model of alkaline electrolysis cell.

• Model was constructed based on MATLAB/SIMULINK.

• It was funded by KIMM.

REACTOR TRAIN SYSTEM FOR SOLAR THERMOCHEMICAL FUEL PRODUCTION

Aniket S. Patankar, Xiao-Yu Wu, Wonjae Choi, Harry L. Tuller, Ahmed F. Ghoniem

Journal of Solar Energy Engineering, 2022. DOI: 10.1115/IMECE2021-69716 

• A novel Reactor Train system for efficient conversion of solar thermal energy to hydrogen was proposed.

• This system is capable of recovering thermal energy from redox materials.

• The Reactor Train is comprised of several identical reactors arranged in a closed loop and cycling between reduction and oxidation steps.

• In between these steps, the reactors undergo solid heat recovery in a radiative counterflow heat exchanger.

• A heat recovery effectiveness of 75–82% with a train consisting of 56 reactors and a cycle time of 84 minutes.