Liquid fuels from concentrated sunlight: An overview on development and integration of a 50 kW solar thermochemical reactor and high concentration solar field for the SUN-to-LIQUID project

Koepf, Erik; Zoller, Stefan; Luque, Salvador; Thelen, Martin; Brendelberger, Stefan; González-Aguilar, José; Romero, Manuel; Steinfeld, Aldo

doi:10.1063/1.5117692

Cited by 22 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…These variants can be supplemented by two further minor options, a mix of both previous types, the power-biomass-to-liquid (PBtL) and the technology defined as the sun-to-liquid process (StL), which uses sunlight for the direct production of synthesis gas either in a photo-electrochemical cell or via a thermochemical reactor [23]. Even though the latter StL technology path may be an interesting option in the future, it will not be considered in the further course of the work as it is still in the stage of development [24,25].…”

Section: Production Routementioning

confidence: 99%

Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis as the Key for Decentralized Sustainable Kerosene Production

Meurer¹,

Kern²

2021

Energies

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Synthetic fuels play an important role in the defossilization of future aviation transport. To reduce the ecological impact of remote airports due to the long-range transportation of kerosene, decentralized on-site production of synthetic paraffinic kerosene is applicable, preferably as a near-drop-in fuel or, alternatively, as a blend. One possible solution for such a production of synthetic kerosene is the power-to-liquid process. We describe the basic development of a simplified plant layout addressing the specific challenges of decentralized kerosene production that differs from most of the current approaches for infrastructural well-connected regions. The decisive influence of the Fischer–Tropsch synthesis on the power-to-liquid (PtL) process is shown by means of a steady-state reactor model, which was developed in Python and serves as a basis for the further development of a modular environment able to represent entire process chains. The reactor model is based on reaction kinetics according to the current literature. The effects of adjustments of the main operation parameters on the reactor behavior were evaluated, and the impacts on the up- and downstream processes are described. The results prove the governing influence of the Fischer–Tropsch reactor on the PtL process and show its flexibility regarding the desired product fraction output, which makes it an appropriate solution for decentralized kerosene production.

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Section: Production Routementioning

confidence: 99%

Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis as the Key for Decentralized Sustainable Kerosene Production

Meurer¹,

Kern²

2021

Energies

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“…Even though the latter StL technology path may be an interesting option in the future, it will not be considered in the further course of the work as it is still in the stage of development [24,25]. For a classification of the other above-mentioned production routes with regard to their suitability for a decentralized and sustainable application, it is necessary to evaluate the role of the required process-specific feedstocks in particular.…”

Section: Production Routementioning

confidence: 99%

Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis as Key for a Decentralized Sustainable Kerosene Production

Meurer¹,

Kern²

2021

Preprint

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Synthetic fuels play an important role in the defossilization of future aviation transport. To reduce the ecological impact of remote airports due to long range transportation of kerosene, a decentralized on-site-production of synthetic paraffinic kerosene is applicable, preferably as near-drop-in fuel or alternatively as blend. One possible solution for such a production of synthetic kerosene is the Power-to-Liquid process. The basic development of a simplified plant layout addressing the specific challenges of a decentralized kerosene production which differ from most current approaches for infrastructural well-connected regions is described. The decisive influence of the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis on the PtL process is shown by means of a steady-state reactor model which was developed in Python and serves as basis for further development of a modular environment able to represent entire process chains. The reactor model is based on reaction kinetics according current literature. The effects of adjustments of the main operation parameters on the reactor behavior are evaluated and the impacts on up- and downstream processes are described. The results prove the governing influence of the Fischer-Tropsch reactor on the PtL process and show its flexibility regarding the desired product fraction output, which makes it an appropriate solution for a decentralized kerosene production.

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“…The heat transfer model was validated by comparing the calculated temperature and oxygen evolution to the experimentally determined values measured during testing of the solar reactor in the HFSS [49]. Figure 3(a) shows the numerically calculated (solid lines) and the experimentally measured (dashed lines) temperatures at different thermocouple positions as indicated in Fig.…”

Section: Experimental Validationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heat Transfer Model of a 50 kW Solar Receiver–Reactor for Thermochemical Redox Cycling Using Cerium Dioxide

Zoller

Koepf

Roos

et al. 2019

Journal of Solar Energy Engineering

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This work reports on the development of a transient heat transfer model of a solar receiver–reactor designed for thermochemical redox cycling by temperature and pressure swing of pure cerium dioxide in the form of a reticulated porous ceramic (RPC). In the first, endothermal step, the cerium dioxide RPC is directly heated with concentrated solar radiation to 1500 °C while under vacuum pressure of less than 10 mbar, thereby releasing oxygen from its crystal lattice. In the subsequent, exothermic step, the reactor is repressurized with carbon dioxide as it cools, and at temperatures below 1000 °C, the partially reduced cerium dioxide is re-oxidized with a flow of carbon dioxide. To analyze the performance of the solar reactor and to gain insight into improved design and operational conditions, a transient heat transfer model of the solar reactor for a solar radiative input power of 50 kW during the reduction step was developed and implemented in ANSYS cfx. The numerical model couples the incoming concentrated solar radiation using Monte Carlo ray tracing, incorporates the reduction chemistry by assuming thermodynamic equilibrium, and accounts for internal radiation heat transfer inside the porous ceria by applying effective heat transfer properties. The model was experimentally validated using data acquired in a high-flux solar simulator (HFSS), where temperature evolution and oxygen production results from model and experiment agreed well. The numerical results indicate the prominent influence of solar radiative input power, where increasing it substantially reduces reduction time of the cerium dioxide structure. Consequently, the model predicts a solar-to-fuel energy conversion efficiency of >6% at a solar radiative power input of 50 kW; efficiency >10% can be obtained provided the RPC macroporosity is substantially increased, and better volumetric absorption and uniform heating is achieved. Managing the ceria surface temperature during reduction to avoid sublimation is a critical design consideration for direct absorption solar receiver–reactors.

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Liquid fuels from concentrated sunlight: An overview on development and integration of a 50 kW solar thermochemical reactor and high concentration solar field for the SUN-to-LIQUID project

Cited by 22 publications

References 6 publications

Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis as the Key for Decentralized Sustainable Kerosene Production

Fischer–Tropsch Synthesis as the Key for Decentralized Sustainable Kerosene Production

Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis as Key for a Decentralized Sustainable Kerosene Production

Heat Transfer Model of a 50 kW Solar Receiver–Reactor for Thermochemical Redox Cycling Using Cerium Dioxide

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