Experimental study and modeling of a high-temperature solar chemical reactor for hydrogen production from methane cracking

A high-temperature fluid-wall solar reactor was developed for the production of hydrogen from methane cracking. This laboratory-scale reactor features a graphite tubular cavity directly heated by concentrated solar energy, in which the reactive flowing gas dissociates to form hydrogen and carbon black. The solar reactor characterization was achieved with: (a) a thorough experimental study on the reactor performance versus operating conditions and (b) solar reactor modeling. The results showed that the conversion of CH4CH4 and yield of H2H2 can exceed 97% and 90%, respectively, and these depend strongly on temperature and on fluid-wall heat transfer and reaction surface area. In addition to the experimental study, a 2D computational model coupling transport phenomena was developed to predict the mapping of reactor temperature and of species concentration, and the reaction extent at the outlet. The model was validated and kinetics of methane decomposition were identified from simulations and comparison to experimental results.