Affordable Hydrogen Production from an Efficient Solar Reactor

Background: The solar thermochemical reactor represents a major advance in technology that provides a revolutionary and transformational approach using abundant solar resources to produce hydrogen. The thermochemical reaction produces hydrogen using concentrated solar energy as the main energy source and water and carbon dioxide as the feedstock. This reaction recycles carbon dioxide to carbon monoxide which is a component of syngas. The solar reactor uses concentric cylinders for effective heat recuperation while simultaneously conducting the reduction and oxidation reactions. Technology Description: A thermochemical reactor has been developed to produce syngas a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide from concentrated solar energy water and carbon dioxide. The solar reactor efficiently produces affordable hydrogen that can be used directly as fuel. The reactor features dual zones for the simultaneous reduction and oxidation through the continuous cycling of metal oxide to split water and carbon dioxide. The physical contact area between the reduction and oxidation zones is minimized to reduce heat and mass transfer. Using a solar reactor reduces the dependence on petroleum and other fossil fuels as well as the emission of greenhouse gases. Current solar thermochemical approaches are greatly restricted by the efficiency of the reactor which is less than one percent. This solar thermochemical reactor has the potential to provide a rapid and efficient method to produce fuels with 10X greater efficiency than current methods. Applications: Syngas