Effects of key factors on solar aided methane steam reforming in porous medium thermochemical reactor

•Effects of key factors on chemical reaction for solar methane reforming are studied.•MCRT and FVM method coupled with UDFs is used to establish numerical model.•Heat and mass transfer model coupled with thermochemical reaction is established.•LTNE model coupled with P1 approximation is used for porous matrix solar reactor.•A formula between H2 production and conductivity of porous matrix is put forward.

With the aid of solar energy, methane reforming process can save up to 20% of the total methane consumption. Monte Carlo Ray Tracing (MCRT) method and Finite Volume Method (FVM) combined method are developed to establish the heat and mass transfer model coupled with thermochemical reaction kinetics for porous medium solar thermochemical reactor. In order to provide more temperature information, local thermal non-equilibrium (LTNE) model coupled with P1 approximation is established to investigate the thermal performance of porous medium solar thermochemical reaction. Effects of radiative heat loss and thermal conductivity of porous matrix on temperature distribution and thermochemical reaction for solar driven steam methane reforming process are numerically studied. Besides, the relationship between hydrogen production and thermal conductivity of porous matrix are analyzed. The results illustrate that hydrogen production shows a 3 order polynomial relation with thermal conductivity of porous matrix.