Solar thermochemical reactor and methods of manufacture and use thereof

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10906017-B2
Application number	US-201715645239-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 10, 2017
Priority date	Jun 11, 2013
Publication date	Feb 2, 2021
Grant date	Feb 2, 2021

Abstract

Disclosed herein is a solar reactor comprising a reactor member; an aperture for receiving solar radiation, the aperture being disposed in a plane on a wall of the reactor member, where the plane is oriented at any angle other than parallel relative to the centerline of the reactor member; a plurality of absorber tubes, wherein the absorber tubes are oriented such that their respective centerlines are at an angle other than 90° relative to the centerline of the reactor member; and wherein the aperture has a hydraulic diameter that is from 0.2 to 4 times a hydraulic diameter of at least one absorber tube in the plurality of absorber tubes; and a reactive material, the reactive material being disposed in the plurality of absorber tubes.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A solar reactor comprising:
a reactor member;
an aperture for receiving solar radiation, the aperture being disposed in a plane on a wall of the reactor member, where the plane is oriented at any angle other than parallel relative to the centerline of the reactor member;
a plurality of absorber tubes, wherein the absorber tubes are oriented such that their respective centerlines are at an angle other than 90° relative to the centerline of the reactor member; and wherein the aperture has a hydraulic diameter that is from 0.2 to 4 times a hydraulic diameter of at least one absorber tube in the plurality of absorber tubes; and
a reactive material, the reactive material being disposed in the plurality of absorber tubes, and the reactive material consists of a first mixture of first particles and second particles, wherein the first particle consists only of magnetite (Fe 3 O 4 ) and the second particle consists only of magnesium oxide.

2. The solar reactor of claim 1 , where the composite particle has an average particle size of about 200 to about 2000 micrometers.

3. The solar reactor of claim 1 , where the first particle has an average particle size of about 20 to about 80 micrometers, and where the second particle has an average particle size of about 0.5 to about 10 micrometers prior to a sintering.

4. The solar reactor of claim 1 , where a weight ratio of the first particle to the second particle is about 1:4 to about 1:6.

5. The solar reactor of claim 1 , where the composite particle has a surface area of greater than or equal to about 100 square meter per gram.

6. A solar reactor comprising:
a reactor member;
an aperture for receiving solar radiation, the aperture being disposed in a plane on a wall of the reactor member, where the plane is oriented at any angle other than parallel relative to the centerline of the reactor member;
a plurality of absorber tubes, wherein the absorber tubes are oriented such that their respective centerlines are at an angle other than 90° relative to the centerline of the reactor member; and wherein the aperture has a hydraulic diameter that is from 0.2 to 4 times a hydraulic diameter of at least one absorber tube in the plurality of absorber tubes; and
a reactive material, the reactive material being disposed in the plurality of absorber tubes, and the reactive material consists of a first mixture of first particles and second particles, wherein the first particle consists only of manganese dioxide (MnO 2 ) and the second particle consists only of magnesium oxide.

7. The solar reactor of claim 6 , where the composite particle has an average particle size of about 200 to about 2000 micrometers.

8. The solar reactor of claim 6 , where the first particle has an average particle size of about 20 to about 80 micrometers, and where the second particle has an average particle size of about 0.5 to about 10 micrometers prior to a sintering.

9. The solar reactor of claim 6 , where a weight ratio of the first particle to the second particle is about 1:4 to about 1:6.

10. The solar reactor of claim 6 , where the composite particle has a surface area of greater than or equal to about 100 square meter per gram.

Assignees

• Univ Florida

Inventors

• Klausner James F
• Petrasch Joerg
• Auyeung Nicholas
• Momen Ayyoub Mehdizadeh
• Mishra Rishi
• Lu Jinchao
• Hahn David Worthington
• Sehgal Nikhil
• Mei Renwei
• Greek Benjamin
• Al-Raqom Fotouh A
• Allen Kyle

Classifications

• B01J19/127 Primary

  Sunlight; Visible light · CPC title

• B01J8/009

  Membranes, e.g. feeding or removing reactants or products to or from the catalyst bed through a membrane · CPC title

• B01J8/0285

  Heating or cooling the reactor (for tubular reactors in furnaces B01J8/062) · CPC title

• B01J8/025

  in a cylindrical shaped bed · CPC title

• B01J8/0278

  Feeding reactive fluids (for solid material B01J8/0015) · CPC title