Solar Receivers for Use in Solar-Driven Thermochemical Processes

Abstract

Solar receivers which produce heat at very high temperatures (in excess of 1000° C.) are described herein. The receiver produces the high temperature heat and radiates the heat to a containment element (e.g., pipe) that contains a heat transfer fluid which absorbs the heat. The fluid is preferably a material which is thermally and chemically stable at the temperatures involved. The heat transfer fluid absorbs the heat and can deliver it to a reactor system to drive an endothermic reaction, such as thermochemical water splitting, CO2 capture, and / or syngas production. Alternatively, the heat can be used to directly generate electricity through a high temperature heat engine such as a Brayton or combined Brayton+Rankine cycle.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 13 / 538,304, entitled “Reactor, System, and Method for Solid Reactant-Based Thermochemical Processes”, filed Jun. 29, 2012, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in their entirety.FIELD OF THE INVENTION[0002]This invention is in the field of solar collectors for collecting and concentrating solar radiation to produce heat to drive high temperature thermal processes.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]Thermochemical processes, such as water splitting for power generation, CO2 capture, and / or syngas production require high temperatures, e.g., greater than 1000° C.-1400° C., to drive these processes. Solar absorption systems are means for generating heat to drive such processes. The system contains a receiver which collects and concentrates the solar radiation to generate heat. The heat can be stored in a working fluid to be delivered later to drive a process, such as a ch...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0007]The receiver can be incorporated into a solar absorber system, wherein the system contains one or more collectors which collect solar radiation and direct it to the receiver. In some embodiments, the system contains a plurality of heliostats that direct light to the receiver. The heliostat can be modified to improve efficiency, for example, by coating the mirrors with a material which converts the highest frequency photons at higher efficiency and then reflects the remaining photons to the receiver which should improve overall system efficiency. In other embodiment, the collectors are one or more parabolic mirrors which couple the light to fiber optical cables which avoids the need for a power tower.

Problems solved by technology

However, typical modem receivers use molten-salts for heat storage and therefore cannot generate heat at the necessary temperatures to drive high temperature processes, such as those described above.

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