TITLE:
An Energy Production System Powered by Solar Heat with Biogas Dry Reforming Reactor and Solid Oxide Fuel Cell
AUTHORS:
Akira Nishimura, Ryotaro Sato, Eric Hu
KEYWORDS:
Solar Collector, Fluid Temperature, Climate Data, Biogas Dry Reforming, H2 Production, SOFC
JOURNAL NAME:
Smart Grid and Renewable Energy,
Vol.14 No.5,
May
31,
2023
ABSTRACT: In this paper, an energy system consisting of solar collector, biogas dry
reforming reactor and solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) has been proposed. The heat
produced from the concentrating solar collector is used to drive a biogas dry
reforming reactor in order to produce H2 as a fuel for SOFC, in such
as system. The aim of this study is to clarify the impact of climate data on
the performance of solar collector with various sizes/designs. The temperature
of heat transfer fluid produced by the solar collector is calculated by
adopting the climate data for Nagoya city in Japan in 2021. The amount of H2 produced from the biogas dry reforming reactor and the power generated by SOFC
were simulated. The results show the
temperature of heat transfer fluid (Tfb)
and Tfb ratio (a) based on the length of absorber (dx) = 1 m have a
peak near the noon following the trend of solar intensity (I). Results also revealed that a increases with increase in dx. It is
found that the differences of Tfb and a between dx = 2 m and dx = 3 m are
larger than those between dx = 1 m
and dx = 2 m. It is revealed that Tfb and a are higher in spring and summer. dx = 4 m
is the optimum length of solar absorber. The amount of H2 produced
from the biogas dry reforming reactor as well as the power generated by SOFC is the
highest in August, resulting that it is prefer to produce H2 and to
generate SOFC in summer.