• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.44-49
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• 2009

Steam reforming of methane in the high temperature solar chemical reactor bas advantage in its heating method. Using concentrated solar energy as a heating source of the reforming reaction can reduce the $CO_2$ emission by 20% compared to hydrocarbon fuel. In this paper, the simulation result of methane-steam reforming on a high temperature solar chemical reactor(SCR) using Fluent 6.3.26 is presented. The high temperature SCR is designed for the Inha Dish-1, a Dish type solar concentrator installed in Songdo city. Basic SCR performance factors are referred to the former researches of the same laboratory. Inside the SCR porous metal is used for a receiver/reactor. The porous metal is carved like a dome shape on the incident side to increase the heat transfer. Also, ring-disc set of baffle is inserted in the porous metal region to increase the path length. Numerical and physical models are also used from the former researches. Methane and steam is mixed with the same mole fraction and injected into the SCR. The simulation is performed for a various inlet mass flow rate of the methane-steam mixture gas. The result shows that the average reactor temperature and the conversion rate change appreciably by the inlet mass flow rate of 0.0005 kg/s.

• Proceedings of the KSME Conference
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• 2008.11b
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• pp.2221-2226
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• 2008

The objective of this paper is to describe the experimental and numerical investigation of the analysis of the heat transfer in a solar chemical reactor. These are compared about methane steam reforming process in the solar chemical reactor which was a volumetric absorber consisting of honeycomb and a multilayered catalyst supports. With this high operating temperature, convective heat loss, thermal fracture are important features for designing SCR. In order to estimate the system performance and to design the actual solar reactor with various conditions, CFD analysis was used in this study. The nickel oxide porous metal is inserted inside the solar chemical reactor to increase the conversion rate of the reforming reaction. Simulation has been carried out based on the experimental data. According to the simulation results, the optimum methane-steam mole ratio and thickness and numbers of catalyst supports were obtained.

• 한국태양에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2008.11a
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• pp.294-299
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• 2008

Steam reforming of methane is the most wide spread method for hydrogen production. It has heed studied more than 60 years. methane reforming has advantages in technological maturity and economical production cost. Using a high-temperature solar thermal energy is an advanced technology in Steam reforming process. The synthesis gas, the product of the reforming process, can be applied directly for a combined cycle or separated for a hydrogen. In this paper, hydrogen conversion rate of a solar chemical reactor is calculated using commercial CFD program. 2 models are considered. Model-1 is original model which is designed from the former researches. And model-2 is ring-disk set of baffle is inserted to enhance the performance. The solar chemical reactor has 3 inlet nozzle at the bottom of the side wall near quartz glass and an exit is located at the top. Methane and steam is premixed with 50:50 mole fraction and goes into the inside. Passing through the porous media, the reactants are conversed into hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

• 한국신재생에너지학회:학술대회논문집
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• 2006.06a
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• pp.580-583
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• 2006

A small-scale solar concentrating system was developed and demonstrated for supplying process heat required in solar thermo chemical reaction. The concentration system consists of a heliostat equipped with a solar tracking device and a dish concentrator. From the initial thermal test of the concentrating system it was found that the system works very well with around 500-600 concentration ratio capable of supplying about 3kW therml energy to the reactor. Once the concentration system was turned on, the reactor temperature rapidly increased over $1,000^{\circ}C$ and could be maintained high enough for solar chemical reaction.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.29-35
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• 2001

The chemical heat storage as the one way of utilization for high temperature solar energy was considered. The stram reforming reaction of methane was chosen for endothermic reaction. The reactor was made of stainless steel tube and it's dimension was 0.635 cm I.D. and 30 cm long, coiled tube because of the geometry requirement of solar receiver The effects of space velocity and reactants mole ratio on the methane conversion and CO selectivity were examined. From the experimental results, the optimum steam/methane mole ratio was determined.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.21 no.3
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• pp.1-8
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• 2001

The chemical heat storage as the one way of utilization for high temperature solar energy was considered. The stram reforming reaction of methane was chosen for endothermic reaction. The reactor was made of stainless steel and the dimension was 6.25 mm I.D. and 30 cm long coiled tube because of the geometry requirement of solar receiver. The methane conversion was increased linearly with reaction temperature and nickel content of catalyst. The methane conversion was 60% at $600^{\circ}C$ and 90% at $900^{\circ}C$. The feasibility of steam reforming of methane as the conversion of solar energy to chemical heat storage was confirmed.

• Applied Chemistry for Engineering
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• v.7 no.6
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• pp.1181-1191
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• 1996

To develope chemical heat pump, which is operated by heat of high temperature using available energy sources such as solar heat and many kinds of waste thermal energy we have studied theoretically the enhancement effects of inserted fins on the rate of heat transfer and reaction in cylinderical $Ca(OH)_2$ packed bed reactor. The results obtained by numerical analysis about profiles of temperature, completion time of reaction and exothermic heat amount released from the reactor read as the inserted copper fins in reator reduce the completion time of dehydration reaction in packed bed by half, and the rate of thermochemical reaction depends on the temperature and concentration, and it is also governed by the boundary conditions and the rate of heat transfer in the particle packed bed.

• Journal of the Korean Solar Energy Society
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.107-114
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• 2011

Two-step thermochemical cycle using ferrite-oxide($Fe_3O_4$) device was investigated. The $H_2O$(g) was converted into $H_2$ in the first experiment which was performed using a dish type solar thermal system. However the experiment was lasted only for 2 cycles because the metal oxide device was sintered and broken down. Another problem was that the reaction was taken place mainly on a side of the metal oxide device. The $m-ZrO_2$, which was widely known as a material preventing sintering, was applied on the metal oxide device. The ferrite loading rate and the thickness of the metal oxide device were increased from 10.67wt% to 20wt% and from 10mm to 15mm, respectively. The chemical reactor having two inlets was designed in order to supply the reactants uniformly to the metal oxide device. The second-experiment was lasted for 5 cycles, which was for 6 hours. The total amount of the $H_2$ production was 861.30mL.

• Proceedings of the Korean Institute of Electrical and Electronic Material Engineers Conference
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• 2004.11a
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• pp.276-279
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• 2004

Plasma enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) of silicon nitride (SiN) is a proven technique for obtaining layers that meet the needs of surface passivation and anti-reflection coating. In addition, the deposition process appears to provoke bulk passivation as well due to diffusion of atomic hydrogen. This bulk passivation is an important advantage of PECVD deposition when compared to the conventional CVD techniques. A further advantage of PECVD is that the process takes place at a relatively low temperature of 300t, keeping the total thermal budget of the cell processing to a minimum. In this work SiN deposition was performed using a horizontal PECVD reactor system consisting of a long horizontal quartz tube that was radiantly heated. Special and long rectangular graphite plates served as both the electrodes to establish the plasma and holders of the wafers. The electrode configuration was designed to provide a uniform plasma environment for each wafer and to ensure the film uniformity. These horizontally oriented graphite electrodes were stacked parallel to one another, side by side, with alternating plates serving as power and ground electrodes for the RF power supply. The plasma was formed in the space between each pair of plates. Also this paper deals with the fabrication of multicrystalline silicon solar cells with PECVD SiN layers combined with high-throughput screen printing and RTP firing. Using this sequence we were able to obtain solar cells with an efficiency of 14% for polished multi crystalline Si wafers of size 125 m square.

• Journal of Energy Engineering
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• v.15 no.2 s.46
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• pp.107-117
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• 2006

The status of water splitting thermochemical cycle for hydrogen production was reviewed in this article. Mass production of hydrogen could be possible using the thermochemical process which is similar to the concept of conventional chemical reaction system if the high temperature heat source is available. The mediators (chemicals and reagents) should be used to split chemically stable water, and should be recycled in a closed cycle in order to be environmentally acceptable. Though there is no process to reach commercial stage, IS cycle, two-step cycles based on metallic oxide such as ZnO/Zn, $Fe_3O_4/FeO$ and the associated cycles are attracted due to their possibilities of application. Development of materials for high temperature and/or corrosive conditions during thermochemical process is still important topic in some thermochemical processes.