Electrolysis Generates Flammable Gas Controlled By Pv Panel

Abstract

This is a research paper about producing a flammable gas that can be used in our home for cooking purpose through the electrolysis process. The need for it arouse due to increasing cost of LPG day by day. Earlier for cooking purpose wood, coal, cow dung cakes were used that affected the human health, in order to overcome this issue government took many steps so that cooking cylinders can reach at every home but still in some villages old methods of cooking are being used. So this research paper of producing flammable gas will solve these problems by using advance technology, the most important thing about this is the use of solar energy for the process of electrolysis. As the solar energy is renewable source of energy, this will be the best alternative for providing supply for the electrolysis process. This paper also aims at encouraging further research in the field of organic chemistry. We can further make use of machine learning and artificial intelligence in this field. In this research paper kolbe’s electrolysis method has been used for the process of electrolysis. Sodium butanoate can be used as a chemical for the electrolysis through this, propane gas will be evolved and this gas is used in liquefied petroleum gas that is the LPG’S so this can be stored in cylinders for the further cooking process.

Introduction

Recently, energy generated from clean, efficient and environmentally friendly sources has become one of the major challenges for engineers and scientists [1-4]. Among them, photovoltaic (PV) application has received a great attention in research because it appears to be one of the most efficient and effective solutions to this environmental problem. Photovoltaic (PV) is a method of generating electrical power by converting solar radiation into direct current electricity using semiconductors that exhibit the photovoltaic effect. Photovoltaic power generation employs solar panels composed of a number of solar cells containing a photovoltaic material. Materials presently used for photovoltaic applications include mono-crystalline, polycrystalline silicon, amorphous silicon, cadmium telluride, and copper indium gallium selenide/sulfide. Due to the growing demand for renewable energy sources, the manufacturing of solar cells and photovoltaic arrays has advanced considerably in recent years [5-6].

Basically in this research paper we will use Kolbe electrolysis method [7] for the process of electrolysis. Sodium butanote can be used as a chemical for the electrolysis and water as the electrolyte, through this propane gas will be evolved and this gas is used in liquefied petroleum gas that is the LPG’S so this will be stored in cylinders for the further cooking process. For this we need a small solar panel, lead storage battery that is the rechargeable. Also the products other than propane like co2 can be used for the other purposes, like it can be sequestered by combining with other chemicals and h2 gas can be used as a hydrogen fuel and thus further used for other purposes in this way every compounds formed during the Kolbe reaction [8] can be used.

Kolbe reaction is the electrochemical oxidative decarboxylation of carboxylic acid salts that leads to radicals, which demerize. It is best applied to the synthesis of symmetrical dimmers that is used to produce alkanes. DC voltage that comes from the solar panel is given to the electrodes dipped in water (electrolyte) in which the chemical sodium butanoate is poured and the supply is being provided to electrodes, reaction will take place, in which at the anode propane gas will be collected in a chamber as the propane is a combustible gas it is used in LPG where the proportion of propane is found 60% [12]. The basic idea is to utilize nonrenewable source of energy to obtain flammable gas through electrolysis. According to the British Petroleum (BP) annual report Asia-Pacific oil reserves will last only 14 years at current rates. As for the United States, which lately has been ramping up oil extraction through horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, BP says its proven oil reserves are 44.2 billion barrels, 26 percent higher than in BP’s previous report. This is more than reported most recently by the US Energy Information Administration, which had raised its own estimate by 15 percent to 33.4 billion barrels (Related Article: Oil Production Numbers Keep Going Down)[13]. That means shale-oil extraction enterprises in the United States have more to offer than many first believed. The sources include the Bakken formation spanning Canadian and US territory in the West, the Eagle Ford formation in East Texas and the super-rich Permian Basin in West Texas, which alone holds 75 billion barrels of recoverable fossil fuels.

And though Eagle Ford and Bakken seem to hold far less oil, EOG Resources, which has been working Eagle Ford, has increased its estimates of the site’s reserves. The Motley Fool reports that its latest estimate of recoverable fuel is 3.2 billion barrels, more than the nearly 1 billion barrels expected in 2010. Nevertheless, BP is cautious in defining oil reserves. At the top of an introductory web page on the subject, the company states boldly: “Nobody knows or can know how much oil exists under the earth's surface or how much it will be possible to produce in the future2.”

Methdology

First the electrodes will be placed in the sodium butanoate solution then these electrodes are connected with the solar panels for the electrolysis process. During the electrolysis process propane is produced along with the carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas. The chemical reaction for the electrolysis process is as follows: The propane gas will be evolved at the anode side and from there a pipe will be connected to store this propane gas in a container and this will be further used for cooking purposes. Then the carbon dioxide gas can be captured by the sodium hydroxide and after mixing it with the potassium hydroxide along with some water can be used as a synthetic fuel approx a cost of $100 per ton. Also the hydrogen gas evolved can be combined with oxygen to form some water molecules.

Basically the solution that we are using for electrolysis process is sodium butanoate the overall rate of electrochemical reaction may be expressed by using faraday’s laws of electrolysis. The amount of material undergoing electrochemical change (m) is proportional to the amount of electrical charge (Q), involved m=Q/nF where the unit is moles F is the faraday constant. As the electrochemical reactions are heterogeneous surface processes, it is often convenient to relate the reaction rate with surface area of the electrodes.

Photovoltaic solar panels absorb sunlight as a source of energy to generate electricity. A photovoltaic (PV) module is a packaged, connected assembly of typically 6x10 photovoltaic solar cells. Photovoltaic modules constitute the photovoltaic array of a photovoltaic system that generates and supplies solar electricity in commercial and residential applications. Each module is rated by its DC output power under standard test conditions (STC), and typically ranges from 100 to 365 Watts (W). The efficiency of a module determines the area of a module given the same rated output – an 8% efficient 230 W module will have twice the area of a 16% efficient 230 W module. There are a few commercially available solar modules that exceed efficiency of 24% [11]. These solar panels will be used for the electrolysis process for the experiment to be performed, so as to evolve the propane gas as a cooking gas4.

For the electrolysis process to be performed we need minimum 6 volt of battery so for this project we are using 25 volt solar panel.Sodium butyrate is a compound with formula Na(C3H7COO). It is the sodium salt of butyric acid. It has various effects on cultured mammalian cells including inhibition of proliferation, induction of differentiation and induction or repression of gene expression. As such, it can be used in lab to bring about any of these effects. Specifically, butyrate treatment of cells results in histone hyperacetylation, and butyrate itself inhibits class I histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity, specifically HDAC1, HDAC2, HDAC3, and butyrate can be used in determining histone deacetylene in chromatin structure and function. Inhibition of HDAC activity is estimated to affect the expression of only 2% of mammalian genes [10].

In the lab, sodium butyrate is usually found as a white, water-soluble, crystalline solid. The chemical is notable for having a very strong, unpleasant smell that lingers. When working with sodium butyrate, gloves, eye protection and respiratory masks are advised for safety purposes [10]. The compound is found in human diet, notably produced in large amounts from dietary fiber in the gut and present in Parmesan cheese and butter. Nevertheless, the most common source of sodium butyrate in the gut is from consumption of legumes, which along with fiber have been associated with delayed aging and health span

The MQ6 (LPG Gas Sensor) is a simple-to-use liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) sensor. It can be used in gas leakage detecting equipment in consumer and industry applications, this sensor is suitable for detecting LPG, iso-butane, propane, LNG. Avoid the noise of alcohol, cooking fumes and cigarette smoke. The sensitivity can be adjusted by the potentiometer. The gas sensors are made up of the steel exoskeleton under which a sensing element is housed. This element is subjected to current through connecting leads. This current is known as heating current through it, the gases coming close to the sensing element get ionized and are and are absorbed by the sensing element. This changes the resistance of the sensing element which alters the value of the current going out of it.It is a device used to measure pressure of gases and liquids. It is an expression of the force required to stop a fluid from expanding, and is usually stated in terms of force per unit area. A pressure sensor usually act as a transducer, it generates a signal as a function of the pressure imposed. For the purpose of this work, such a signal is electrical. Pressure sensors are used for controlling and monitoring thousands of everyday applications. Pressure sensors can vary drastically in technology, design, performance, application suitability and cost. A conservative estimate would be that there may be over 50 technologies and at least 300 companies making pressure sensors worldwide.

There is also a category of pressure sensors that is designed to measure in a dynamic mode for capturing very high speed changes in pressure. Example applications for this type of sensor would be in the measuring of combustion pressure in an engine cylinder or in a gas turbine. These sensors are commonly manufactured out of piezoelectric materials such as quartz. Some pressure sensors are pressure switches, which turn on or off at a particular pressure. For example, a water pump can be controlled by a pressure switch so that it starts when water is released from the system, reducing the pressure in a reservoir.

Sodium hydroxide, also known as lye and caustic soda, is an inorganic compound with the formula NaOH. It is a white solid ionic compound consisting of sodium cations Na+. Sodium hydroxide is a highly caustic base and alkali that decomposes proteins at ordinary ambient temperatures and may cause severe chemical burns. It is highly soluble in water, and readily absorbs moisture and carbon dioxide from the air. It forms a series of hydrates from water solutions between 12.3 and 61.8 °C. The commercially available 'sodium hydroxide' is often this monohydrate, and published data may refer to it instead of the anhydrous compound. As one of the simplest hydroxides, it is frequently utilized alongside neutral water and acidic hydrochloric acid to demonstrate the pH scale to chemistry students [9]. Sodium hydroxide is used in many industries: in the manufacture of pulp and paper, textiles, drinking water, soaps and detergents, and as a drain cleaner. Worldwide production in 2004 was approximately 60 million tonnes, while demand was 51 million tonnes [9]. It is used for making of the synthetic fuel. C02 is released in very small amount so that it can be released in the atmosphere or even can be used in future for making of the synthetic fuels used in rockets.

The block diagram shown above is the basic structure of the project that depicts the electrolysis process through the solar panel in which one section is the anode and the other section is cathode. The chemical used in this is sodium butanoate. For the electrolysis process to be done power supply is being needed for that solar panel is being used as the photovoltaic cells then the reaction takes place in the electrolysis container with the cathodic and anodic reaction takes place. The propane gas which is the flammable gas is obtained at the anode side and this is send to the gas chamber for the storage and this gas chamber contains the MQ6 sensor which is used to detect the propane, butane i.e the flammable gases. Then a microcontroller circuit has been attached so that the pressure sensor and the MQ6 sensors programming is done in this and the output is being displayed.

The microcontroller circuit is being attached so as to if the pressure is exceeded then automatically the connection got breaked and the electrolysis process will be stopped. Then in the cathode side the sodium hydroxide and the carbondioxide is evolved with the very least amount of the hydrogen gas and this is stored in the gas chamber.

Sodium hydroxide is used in many industries: in the manufacture of pulp and paper, textiles, drinking water, soaps and detergents, and as a drain cleaner. Worldwide production in 2004 was approximately 60 million tonnes, while demand was 51 million tonnes. It is used for making of the synthetic fuel. C02 is released in very small amount so that can be released in the atmosphere or even can be used in future for making of the synthetic fuels used in rockets. In future for the bi products evolved during the reaction along with the propane gas can be used in different field like that for making of synthetic fuel.

Conclusions

The result of our research paper is that the propane gas is evolved at a low cost for the cooking purposes at our home along with that CO2 gas as a synthetic fuel can also be made. This is a very simple process of obtaining the propane gas its just a one time set up that has to be made for this system and one can easily access this at low cost. As according to the annual report of British Petroleum our oil reserves will last for 14 years only after that we have to think of something regarding this cooking gas because its tough to manage the thing without the cooking gas so this idea of producing cooking gas will definitely help in this situation there are although other alternative like using domestic waste in producing the cooking gas but this would not be sufficient in meeting the daily requirement of the people so for this the production of cooking gas through electrolysis process would be a good option as it is quite simple and the chemical used in it is also a very safe one as it is being used in the food for flavoring purpose.

This research can be further combined with artificial intelligence and machine learning so that all the process can be completed automatically without any human interferences also the process of forming the water can be made in future for more proper use and judicial use of this reaction process. Also it can be used for replacing the LPG’s as they are so costly so that everyone can avail these facilities its cost is low as compared to LPG’s and hence use of coal and wood can be reduced in villages for the cooking purpose and these cooking gas cylinders can be used. The combine effect of artificial intelligence and machine learning can make our system more dynamic and error free. The product produced sodium hydroxide can be combined with the potassium hydroxide and used as synthetic fuel for the air planes.