Cascading pressure thermal reduction for efficient solar fuel production

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    36 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    Efficient two-step solar-thermochemical fuel production requires vacuum pumping or inert gas sweeping to lower the oxygen pressure in the thermal reduction step. Pumping is hampered by large oxygen volumetric flows, whereas sweeping is energy-intensive, requiring heat recovery at high temperature, and a dedicated inert gas purification plant. A novel pumping approach - using a cascade of chambers at successively lower pressures - is analyzed and shown to lead to over an order of magnitude pressure decrease compared to a single-chambered design. The resulting efficiency gains are substantial, and represent an important step toward practical and efficient solar fuel production on a large scale.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)13114-13117
    Number of pages4
    JournalInternational Journal of Hydrogen Energy
    Volume39
    Issue number25
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Aug 22 2014

    Keywords

    • Carbon dioxide
    • Hydrogen
    • Solar fuels
    • Thermochemical

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Renewable Energy, Sustainability and the Environment
    • Fuel Technology
    • Condensed Matter Physics
    • Energy Engineering and Power Technology

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