Solar Thermochemical CO 2 Splitting Integrated with Supercritical CO 2 Cycle for Efficient Fuel and Power Generation

Xiangjun Yu, Wenlei Lian (), Ke Gao, Zhixing Jiang, Cheng Tian, Nan Sun, Hangbin Zheng, Xinrui Wang, Chao Song and Xianglei Liu
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Xiangjun Yu: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Wenlei Lian: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Ke Gao: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Zhixing Jiang: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Cheng Tian: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Nan Sun: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Hangbin Zheng: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Xinrui Wang: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Chao Song: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China
Xianglei Liu: School of Energy and Power Engineering, Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing 210016, China

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 19, 1-20

Abstract: Converting CO 2 into fuels via solar-driven thermochemical cycles of metal oxides is promising to address global climate change and energy crisis challenges simultaneously. However, it suffers from low energy conversion efficiency ( η en ) due to high sensible heat losses when swinging between reduction and oxidation cycles, and a single product of fuels can hardly meet multiple kinds of energy demands. Here, we propose an alternative way to upsurge energy conversion efficiency by integrating solar thermochemical CO 2 splitting with a supercritical CO 2 thermodynamic cycle. When gas phase heat recovery ( ε gg ) is equal to 0.9, the highest energy conversion efficiency of 20.4% is obtained at the optimal cycle high pressure of 260 bar. In stark contrast, the highest energy conversion efficiency is only 9.8% for conventional solar thermochemical CO 2 splitting without including a supercritical CO 2 cycle. The superior performance is attributed to efficient harvesting of waste heat and synergy of CO 2 splitting cycles with supercritical CO 2 cycles. This work provides alternative routes for promoting the development and deployment of solar thermochemical CO 2 splitting techniques.

Keywords: cerium dioxide; concentrated solar; solar fuel; thermochemical cycle; thermodynamic analysis (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: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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