New & Renewable Energy (신재생에너지)

Korean Society for New and Renewable Energy (한국신·재생에너지학회)
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Simulation Analysis of Bio-Methane Decomposition Using Solar Thermal Energy

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  • Kim, Haneol (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Inha University) ;
  • Lee, Sangnam (Renewable Heat Integration Laboratory, Korea Institute of Energy Research) ;
  • Lee, Sang Jik (Renewable Heat Integration Laboratory, S-Connect) ;
  • Kim, Jongkyu (Renewable Heat Integration Laboratory, Korea Institute of Energy Research)
  • Received : 2020.09.20
  • Accepted : 2021.02.23
  • Published : 2021.03.25
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Abstract

In this study, the optical properties, heat transfer capabilities and chemical reaction performance of a methane thermal decomposition reactor using solar heat as a heat source were numerically analyzed on the basis of the cavity shape. The optical properties were analyzed using TracePro, a Monte Carlo ray tracing-based program, and the heat transfer analysis was performed using Fluent, a CFD program. An indirect heating tubular reactor was rotated at a constant speed to prevent damage by the heat source in the solar furnace. The inside of the reactor was filled with a porous catalyst for methane decomposition, and the outside was insulated to reduce heat loss. The performance of the reactor, based on cavity shape, was calculated when solar heat was concentrated on the reactor surface and methane was supplied into the reactor in an environment with a solar irradiance of 700 W/㎡, a wind speed of 1 m/s, and an outdoor temperature of 25℃. Thus, it was confirmed that the heat loss of the full-cavity model decreased to 13% and the methane conversion rate increased by 33.5% when compared to the semi-cavity model.

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References

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