CLOSED-LOOP OPERATION OF A SOLAR CHEMICAL HEAT PIPE AT THE WEIZMANN INSTITUTE SOLAR FURNACE

The performance of a solar chemical heat pipe was studied using CO2 reforming of methane as the vehicle for storage and transport of solar energy. The endothermic reforming reaction was carried out in an Inconel reactor, packed with a rhodium catalyst. The reactor was suspended in an insulated box receiver which was placed in the focal plane of the Schaeffer Solar Furnace of the Weizmann Institute of Science. The exothermic methanation reaction was run in a tubular reactor filled with the same Rh catalyst and fed with the products from the reformer. Conversions of over 80% were achieved for both reactions. In the closed-loop mode the products from the reformer and from the methanator were compressed into separate storage tanks. The two reactions were run consecutively and the whole process was repeated for nine cycles. The overall performance of the closed loop was according to expectations.