Radiative transfer in a Solar CPC Photoreactor using the First-Order Scattering Method

Abstract

Abstract This manuscript analyzes the suitability of a recently proposed numerical method, the First-Order Scattering Method (FOS), to describe radiation transfer in a Solar Compound Parabolic Collector Photoreactor (CPCP). The study considers five different irradiance conditions ranging from fully diffuse to fully direct solar radiation, with 90 and 45° angled rays. Three photocatalysts at different loadings were considered: Evonik P25, Graphene Oxide, and Goethite, selected due to (1) their relevance in photocatalytic applications and (2) the availability of optical transport properties in the open literature. The study shows that the method is efficient and free of statistical noise, while its accuracy is not affected by the boundary condition’s complexity. The method’s accuracy is very high for photocatalysts with low to moderate albedos, such as Goethite and Graphene Oxide, displaying Normalized Absoluted Mean Error below 3%, i.e., comparable to the Monte Carlo (MC) Method’s statistical fluctuations.