Thermogravimetry Analysis of CO2 and H2O Reduction from Solar Nanosized Zn Powder for Thermochemical Fuel Production

This study addresses the thermochemical production of CO and H-2 as high-value solar fuels from CO2 and H2O using reactive Zn nanoparticles. A two-step thermochemical cycle was considered: Zn-rich nanopowder was first synthesized from solar thermal ZnO dissociation in a high-temperature solar chemical reactor and the reduced material was then used as an oxygen carrier during the CO2 and H2O reduction reactions. The kinetics of CO2 and H2O reduction was investigated by thermogravimetry to demonstrate that the solar-produced nanoparticles react efficiently with CO2 and H2O. Zn started to react from 513 K and almost complete Zn conversion (reaction extent over 95%) was achieved at 633-773 K in less than 5 min, thus confirming that the active Zn-rich nanopowder exhibits rapid fuel production kinetics during H2O and CO2 dissociation. The reaction mechanism was best described by a nucleation and growth model with an activation energy of 43 kJ/mol and an oxidant order of 0.8. The high reactivity of zinc was attributed to the specific solar synthesis route involving ZnO thermal dissociation and condensation of Zn vapor as nanoparticles.