Fluidized bed coal gasification with CO2 under direct irradiation with concentrated visible light

Solar CO2 gasification of coal was demonstrated under direct irradiation of the fluidized coal bed with the concentrated visible light from a solar furnace simulator in a small-scale quartz reactor. Pulverized Australian bituminous coal (the average particle size of 140 pm) was tested. The peak energy-flux density, FDpeak of the incident light beam was varied up to 1270 kW m(-2). The light-to-chemical (enthalpy) energy conversion via the solar gasification increased with increasing the energy-flux density of irradiation. The maximum energy conversion of 8% was obtained at the optimum gas velocity for fluidization of 0.96 N in min(-1).