Particle–gas reacting flow under concentrated solar irradiation

A transient heat transfer model is developed for a reacting flow of CH4 laden with carbon particles directly exposed to concentrated solar radiation and undergoing thermal decomposition into carbon and hydrogen. The unsteady mass and energy conservation equations, coupling convective heat and mass transfer, radiative heat transfer, and chemical kinetics for a two-phase solid–gas flow, are formulated and solved numerically for both phases by Monte Carlo and finite volume methods using the explicit Euler time integration scheme. Parametric study is performed with respect to the initial particle diameter, volume fraction, gas composition, and velocity. Validation is accomplished by comparing temperatures and reaction extent with those measured experimentally using a particle-flow solar reactor prototype subjected to concentrated solar radiation. Smaller particles and/or high volume fractions increase the optical thickness of the medium, its radiative absorption and extinction coefficients, and lead to higher steady-state temperatures, reaction rates, and consequently, higher extent of chemical conversion.