Design of a solar reactor to split CO₂ via isothermal redox cycling of ceria

The design procedure for a 3 kW_th prototype solar thermochemical reactor to implement isothermal redox cycling of ceria for CO₂ splitting is presented. The reactor uses beds of mm-sized porous ceria particles contained in the annulus of concentric alumina tube assemblies that line the cylindrical wall of a solar cavity receiver. The porous particle beds provide high surface area for the heterogeneous reactions, rapid heat and mass transfer, and low pressure drop. Redox cycling is accomplished by alternating flows of inert sweep gas and CO₂ through the bed. The gas flow rates and cycle step durations are selected by scaling the results from small-scale experiments. Thermal and thermomechanical models of the reactor and reactive element tubes are developed to predict the steady-state temperature and stress distributions for nominal operating conditions. The simulation results indicate that the target temperature of 1773 K will be reached in the prototype reactor and that the Mohr-Coulomb static factor of safety is above two everywhere in the tubes, indicating that thermo-mechanical stresses in the tubes remain acceptably low.