Abstract
The design elements considered during the construction of a thermochemical reactor determine its thermal performance. This current study investigated the effect of design elements, such as boundary layer thickness, insulating materials for the outlet tube design and fluid inlet locations of the frustum, on the thermal performance of a proposed syngas production reactor with incident radiation heat transfer through quartz glass. The P1 radiation approximation model and fluid flow in the shallow path were integrated into a proposed radiation model. The result indicated that inlet mass flow rates from 5 × 10−4 to 14 × 10−4 kg/s increased the temperature in the cavity and the outlet. The fluid inlet located at the top of the quartz glass edges was found to have better thermal performance and maximum average outlet temperature. Insulation for fluid inlets tube above the quartz glass edges of the frustum was very important for the prevention of radiation loss through quartz glass and sedimentation of fluid particles around the quartz glass edge, and the facilitation of fast heat transfer towards the internal part of the reactor. The outlet that was a tube designed using an aluminum oxide-type insulator with a 50 mm boundary layer thickness was found to increase the average outlet temperature of the reactor. This study revealed that fluid entry and exit locations on the frustum and proper fluid outlet design were critical for the thermal performance analysis of the solar thermochemical reactor for heat transfer with quartz glass. Findings from this study will be of relevance to chemical and power engineering sectors, as well as academia.
Highlights
The global climate is increasingly changing due to increased emission of greenhouse gasses from the burning of fossil fuels
(0.01 absorption coefficient and zero scattering effect); Opaque gray diffused surface was neglected; The solar thermal energy distribution inside the reactor was assumed as a steady-state solver; The simulation was conducted by assuming that boundaries, radiate walls and the temperature flow in the cavity were uniform and not varied; The P1 radiation models selected for heat transfer were coupled with shallow channel approximation; The initial temperature at the beginning of the simulation was 293.15 K and this temperature included the walls, cavity and the nitrogen gas inside the reactor; The walls were made of zirconia (ZrO2 eY2 O3 ) and 3Al2 O3 –2SiO2 solid (36% porosity), and the wall thickness and emissivity were 0.4 cm and ε = 0.7, respectively
It was found that the fluid inlet location, mass flow rate, wall material, layer
Summary
The global climate is increasingly changing due to increased emission of greenhouse gasses from the burning of fossil fuels. This phenomenon has been shown to have adverse impact on human life and nature. Syngas is a promising renewable energy with potential application in power generation. It can be produced through the application of concentrated solar power (CSP) in conjunction with a thermochemical reactor. The design of the reactor is important for effective and efficient collection, processing and storage of solar energy [1,2,3]. Other factors that affect the thermal performance of a reactor during syngas production include geometry, thermal insulation, Energies 2020, 13, 3405; doi:10.3390/en13133405 www.mdpi.com/journal/energies
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