Numerical and experimental analysis of reactor optimum design and solar thermal-chemical energy conversion for multidisciplinary applications

Redox thermochemical reactor model integrated concentrating solar power technology is finding increased interest due to the enormous advantages of storing renewable energy into high-temperature heat flux and clean transportable fuel. From the perspective of designing a scalable direct solar irradiated receiver, the reactor optimum design and solar thermochemical energy storage performance have been investigated. Numerical models combined with experiments were developed for the analysis of engineering design parameters affecting the reactor efficiency. The shape of the cavity receiver including the size of the glass-covered target radiant received surface and reactor volume, especially the axial length of the heat-storing medium can be considered as important design issues for improving thermochemical energy storage efficiency. The reactor efficiency of storing sunlight with safer operating conditions is reported to 85.27% +/- 0.85% during thermal charging up to 1787.725 K +/- 30.58 K and 76.9% +/- 0.11% during thermal discharging step at 1315. 16 K +/- 7.53 K. Increasing heat losses via receiver insulation layer significantly affects the reactor thermal performance. This study demonstrated that the solar-driven thermochemical process has the potential of achieving high-temperature storable heat and solar fuel production. Appropriate geometric parameters were provided for the scalability from the perspective of industrial implementation.