Affiliation:
1. Key Laboratory of Thermo-Fluid Science and Engineering of MOE, School of Energy and Power Engineering, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710000, China
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.
Funder
National Natural Science Foundation of China
Subject
Energy (miscellaneous),Energy Engineering and Power Technology,Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment,Electrical and Electronic Engineering,Control and Optimization,Engineering (miscellaneous),Building and Construction