Transient simulation of a tubular packed bed solar receiver for hydrogen generation via metal oxide thermochemical cycles

CATEGORY: HYDROGEN
Solar Energy, Volume 105, July 2014, Pages 613–631
Transient simulation of a tubular packed bed solar receiver for hydrogen generation via metal oxide thermochemical cycles
Janna Martinek, Rachel Viger, Alan W. Weimer
Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering, University of Colorado at Boulder, 596 UCB Boulder, CO 80309, USA
Abstract
Researchers used a transient computational fluid dynamics model coupling radiative transfer with fluid flow, heat transfer, mass transfer and chemical reaction kinetics to study theoretical performance of a 4 kW multiple tube solar receiver for a two-step thermochemical redox cycle.
Simulations indicate that receiver performance is most sensitive to aperture size with emission losses accounting for more than 50% of the solar input. An array consisting of a large number of small-diameter tubes is preferred, though performance is minimally impacted by the physical positions of these tubes within the receiver cavity. Time-averaged solar-to-chemical efficiency as high as 14% is predicted after accounting for energy necessary for O2 separation and steam vaporization.
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