Solar-Thermal-Chemical Integrated Design of a Cavity-Type Solar-Driven Methane Dry Reforming Reactor

Zhou-Qiao Dai, Xu Ma, Xin-Yuan Tang, Ren-Zhong Zhang and Wei-Wei Yang ()
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Zhou-Qiao Dai: Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710000, China
Xu Ma: Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710000, China
Xin-Yuan Tang: Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710000, China
Ren-Zhong Zhang: Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710000, China
Wei-Wei Yang: Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710000, China

Energies, 2023, vol. 16, issue 6, 1-21

Abstract: In this work, the solar-thermal-chemical integrated design for a methane dry reforming reactor with cavity-type solar absorption was numerically performed. Combined with a multiphysical reactor model, the gradient optimization algorithm was used to find optimal radiation flux distribution with fixed total incident solar energy for maximizing overall hydrogen yield, defined as the ratio of molar flow of exported hydrogen to imported methane, which can be applied for guiding the optical property design of solar adsorption surface. The comprehensive performances of the reactor under the conditions of original solar flux and optimal solar flux were analyzed and compared. The results show that for the inlet volume flow rate of 8–14 L·min −1 , the hydrogen production rate was increased by up to 5.10%, the energy storage efficiency was increased by up to 5.55%, and the methane conversion rate was increased by up to 6.01%. Finally, the local absorptivities of the solar-absorptive coating on the cavity walls were optimized and determined using a genetic algorithm, which could realize the predicted optimal radiation flux distribution.

Keywords: solar-thermal-chemical integrated design; dry reforming of methane; gradient optimization algorithm; genetic algorithm; optimal solar radiation heat flux distribution (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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