Analysis of Solar Receiver Performance for Chemical-Looping Integration With a Concentrating Solar Thermal System: Paper No. ES2018-7185

This paper introduces a chemical-looping configuration integrated with a concentrating solar thermal (CST) system. The CST system uses an array of mirrors to focus sunlight, and the concentrated solar flux is applied onto a solar receiver to collect and convert solar energy into thermal energy. The thermal energy then drives a thermal power cycle for electricity generation or provides an energy source to chemical processes for material or fuel production. Considerable interest in CST has been driven by power generation with its capability to store thermal energy for continuous electricity supply or peak shaving. However, CST systems have other potential to convert solar energy into fuel or support thermochemical processes. The chemical-looping configuration integrated with the CST system can be a platform for implementing various solarthermochemical processes. The chemical-looping configuration integrated with a CST system has potential applications for thermochemical energy storage and solar thermochemical hydrogen production. To use the solar energy efficiently and effectively, a high-temperature reactor receiver is a key component in the chemical-looping system. This paper shows a novel planar-cavity receiver design and its performance analyzed by solar-tracing and thermal-modeling methods for solar integration in a CST system.