Abstract
Heat transfer and thermochemical energy storage process of methane dry reforming in a disk reactor with focused solar simulator was modeled and analyzed. The results showed that thermochemical energy storage efficiency of disk reactor can reach 28.4%, and that is higher than that of tubular reactor. The maximum reaction rate occurs at catalyst bed corner near the baffle, because the corner has high temperature and high reactant molar fraction. As reactant flow increases, methane conversion and thermochemical energy storage efficiency decrease as catalyst bed temperature and heat loss decrease. The thermochemical energy storage efficiency increased first and then decreased with methane molar ratio increasing, while methane conversion and the thermochemical energy storage efficiency increased with reactant temperature increasing. As catalyst bed porosity rises, methane conversion and thermochemical energy storage efficiency increased first and then decreased, and optimum porosity is 0.31.
Highlights
Solar energy is a kind of abundant clean energy, but the cost of energy development and utilization is high and the efficiency is low due to its dispersion and instability
The results showed that thermochemical energy storage efficiency of disk reactor can reach 28.4%, and that is higher than that of tubular reactor
The maximum reaction rate occurs at catalyst bed corner near the baffle, because the corner has high temperature and high reactant molar fraction
Summary
Solar energy is a kind of abundant clean energy, but the cost of energy development and utilization is high and the efficiency is low due to its dispersion and instability. The numerical results showed that concentrated solar irradiation affects reactor thermal performance, methane steam reforming chemical reaction rate and hydrogen production. Gu et al [16] analyzed heat transfer and storage performance of steam methane reforming in tubular reactor with focused solar simulator by measurement and simulation. Fernando et al [17] found that methane steam reforming in a fixed-bed reactor can efficiently store thermal energy in high temperature. The thermochemical storage performance of methane dry reforming disk reactor was studied with focused solar simulator. The reactant flow, reactant methane molar ratio, reactant temperature and catalyst bed porosity were analyzed for mechanism of methane dry reforming process in the disk reactor, to find a new method to improve the methane conversion and energy storage efficiency of the system
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