Dr. Hazem Tawfik
SUNY Farmingdale
Dr. Tawfik obtained his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering, from University of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, in 1980.
Since then he has held a number of industrial & academic positions and affiliations with different organizations
including Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI), Stony Brook University (SBU),
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Atomic Energy of Canada Inc., Ontario Hydro, NASA Kennedy,
NASA Marshall Space Flight Centers, and the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center at Carderock,
Md. Dr. Tawfik is the author of more than 55 research papers published in peer reviewed journals and conference symposiums.
He holds numerous research awards and shares the rights to four patents in the Polymer Electrolyte Membrane (PEM) fuel cells area.
Currently, Dr. Tawfik is a SUNY Distinguished Service Professor and the Director of the Institute for Research and Technology Transfer
(IRTT) at Farmingdale State College of the State University of New York.
Production of Ultra Pure Hydrogen from Biomass to Power Fuel Cell and Generate Combined Heat and Power
ABSTRACT: Biomass has an excellent potential for economic viability as a renewable source of energy that can produce ultra clean
hydrogen to power fuel cells and produce combined heat and electric power (CHP). Accordingly, considerable attention is given to
coupling both biomass and fuel cell systems. It is known that very small amount of the carbon monoxide (CO) present in the synthesis
gas (syngas) that is produced from biomass will be detrimental to the membranes used in Hydrogen purifier as well as the catalyst of
the proton exchange membrane (PEM) used in the fuel cells. The objective of this project is to produce H2 with 99.9999% purity (CO>10 ppm)
for utilization in a Proton Exchange Membrane (PEM) fuel cells.
Syngas from the gasifier is first processed using the water-gas shift (WGS) reaction to reduce CO to a lower concentration levels.WGS uses
specific catalysts with water (H2O) to reduce CO while an equivalent amount of moles of H2 is additionally produced. The current program
consists of two projects focusing on CO removal. The goal of the first project is to reduce CO to <4 to 6% in the exit stream using WGS,
while the second project aimed to reduce CO in the exit stream to <10 ppm using palladium membrane purifier. Two small scale WGS reactors
with Copper Zinc Oxide as a catalyst were used, namely packed bed and fluidized bed (suspend the catalyst in Ethylflo-164oil) reactors that
were able to reduce CO from 34% to 12% and 3.4% respectively at 225OC.
This work was complemented by the evaluation of hydrogen separation capability of a palladium membrane system from syngas that consists of
a number of gases. A simulated syngas composed of 6% CO and 94% H2 was selected as a feed to the membrane with a goal to reduce CO to <10 ppm.
The reaction parameters tested included operation temperature, feed pressure, and the vent flow rate of pure H2. The results showed that the
optimal H2 flux conditions occurred when the palladium membrane was operated at 300°C, using a feed pressure of 80 psig and a vent flow rate
of 150 ml per minute. Gas chromatography was used to determine the purity of the simulated feed and exiting gas that establish the effectiveness
of the palladium membrane. Repeated results showed that when CO concentration was measured to read 15%, upstream the membrane in the vent purge
flow, an absence of CO or (CO <10 ppm) was noted downstream from the membrane.
The reproducibility of these results suggests that a scaled-up system can be effectively designed for hydrogen to power PEM fuel cells which
can be used in multiple applications for military and civilian purposes.