Fred,
Yes, using a monopropellant has many advantages despite having comparatively low heat content - and opens up affordable options for energy conversion, since a monopropellant can produce large amounts of torque - but without most of the accompanying heat. Combustion heat would make scroll compressors unusable, of course, as would corrosion. Here is the Star-Rotor which is also an option for peroxide and your solar idea:
However, a simpler one-stage turbine, like the "exhaust" half of an automotive turbocharger, might be the best overall choice for peroxide. Corrosion is such a big problem with peroxide that sliding contact must be minimal, even using stainless steel.
The interesting thing about MnO and MnO2 is that these oxides are two-way catalysts (as are many metal and metal oxide surface catalysts, including silver) and will both (either) speed-up the formation but also the decomposition of peroxide, based on reaching an *equilibrium* percentage, which factor seems to have been ignored previously - because it is a low percentage.
Using a reversible surface chemistry reaction is tricky: as both the "speeding-up" by catalysis or the decomposition is amazingly fast - at least as fast as one can possibly keep the dilute fraction in a reactor below the equilibrium level... which is the hard part.
I believe that the low-budget efforts of several inventors here, which I am involved with and contributed the idea itself - has made one major advance in all of this and that is a way to continuously and rapidly separate out the dilute peroxide - just as it is formed but before it reaches equilibrium - so that MnO catalyst works only to speed-up the formation phase, before the decomposition phase would set in. It is a delicate balance.
This doesn't sound like a big deal but it could be, as it permits one to get to a usable level of HOOH enrichment in only a few cascade stages and also removes heat from the system - which so far as I can tell is almost a *first* in electrochemistry. I say "almost" because very low voltage electrolysis will remove heat. But by comparison, this process seems to remove far more. IOW you can get to several gallons per hour (possibly) of mid-grade HOOH using a few kWH of input, and perhaps even justify the entire electrical input as "air conditioning". That is one option. The system is far from perfected as of now but it would not surprise me to see an immediate market for low cost (nearly self-powered) air conditioning, when the bugs are worked out.
Maybe some day you can finally get rid of your "swamper" and yet stay cool in the desert heat without having to refinance the house to pay the electric bill.
Just pump the H2O2-H2O into the Brayton Cycle
combustion chamber onto a decomposition catalyst
such as Manganese Dioxide (MnO2).
Fred
5,112,702 (1992) du Pont
"This invention concerns improved processes for the synthesis of H.sub.2 O.sub.2 by means of the electrochemical reduction of oxygen in the presence of acid and halide, preferably bromide, conducted in an electrolytic cell or in the cathode compartment of a fuel cell. The processes described herein permit production of hydrogen peroxide in commercially useful concentrations."
Peroxide powered engines for naval vessels:
"Currently, motive power of carriers such as land vehicles, aircraft and/or maritime vessels require power generation which is dependent on conventional systems such as non-renewable fossil fuel or battery discharge. This power generation is inefficient and produces toxic waste products, such as carbon monoxide. Engines use the available atmosphere to combine with the fuel for combustion."
