Dry redox reforming hybrid power cycle: Performance analysis and comparison to steam redox reforming

There has been much interest in the use of renewable resources for power generation as the world's energy demand and the concern over the rise in emissions increases. In the near term, however, renewable sources such as solar energy are expected to provide a small fraction of the world's energy demand due to intermittancy and storage problems. A potential solution is the use of hybrid solar-fossil fuel power generation. Previous work has shown the potential of steam redox reforming for hybridization. However, this type of reforming requires some water consumption (which may be infeasible in certain locations) as not all the water can be recovered through recycling. An alternative is to utilize dry (or CO2) redox reforming. In this paper, a system analysis for a CO2 redox reforming hybrid cycle and comparison of cycle and reformer performance between a CO2 redox reformer and steam redox reformer hybrid cycle are presented. The effect of important operating parameters such as pressure, amount of reforming CO2, and the oxidation temperature on the reformer and cycle performance are discussed. Simulation results show that increasing the oxidation temperature or the amount of reforming CO2 leads to higher reformer and cycle efficiencies. In addition, the comparison between the CO2 and steam redox reformer hybrid cycles shows that the CO2 cycle has the potential to have better overall performance.King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM (Project No. R12-CE-10)

A review of solar methane reforming systems

Because of the increasing demand for energy and the associated rise in greenhouse gas emissions, there is much interest in the use of renewable sources such as solar energy in electricity and fuels generation. One problem with solar energy, however, is that it is difficult to economically convert the radiation into usable energy at the desired locations and times, both daily and seasonally. One method to overcome this space-time intermittency is through the production of chemical fuels. In particular, solar reforming is a promising method for producing chemical fuels by reforming and/or water/carbon dioxide splitting. In this paper, a review of solar reforming systems is presented, as well as a comparison between these systems and a discussion on areas for potential innovation including chemical looping and membrane reactors. Moreover, a brief overview of catalysis in the context of reforming is presented

Effect of eccentricity on conjugate natural convection in vertical eccentric annuli

Paper presented at the 6th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, South Africa, 30 June - 2 July, 2008.Combined conduction-free convection heat transfer in vertical eccentric annuli is numerically investigated using a finite-difference technique. Numerical results, representing the heat transfer parameters such as annulus walls temperature, heat flux, and heat absorbed in the developing region of the annulus, are presented for a Newtonian fluid of Prandtl number 0.7, fluid-annulus radius ratio 0.5, solid-fluid thermal conductivity ratio 10, inner and outer wall dimensionless thicknesses 0.1 and 0.2, respectively, and dimensionless eccentricities 0.1, 0.3, 0.5, and 0.7. The annulus walls are subjected to thermal boundary conditions, which are obtained by heating one wall isothermally whereas keeping the other wall at inlet fluid temperature. In the present paper, the annulus heights required to achieve thermal full development for prescribed eccentricities are obtained. Furthermore, the variation in the height of thermal full development as function of the geometrical parameter, i.e., eccentricity is also investigated.vk201

Conjugate Effects on Steady Laminar Natural Convection Heat Transfer in Vertical Eccentric Annuli

Combined conduction-free convection heat transfer in vertical eccentric annuli is numerically investigated using finite-difference technique. Numerical results are presented for a fluid of Prandtl number 0.7 in an annulus of radius ratio 0.5 and dimensionless eccentricity 0.5. The conjugation effect on the induced flow rate and the total heat absorbed in the annulus is presented for the case of one wall being isothermally heated while the other wall is kept at inlet fluid temperature. The conjugate effects are controlled by solid-fluid conductivity ratio, cylinder walls thickness and dimensionless channel height (i.e. Grashof number). Solid-fluid conductivity ratio is varied over a range that covers practical cases with commonly encountered inner and outer walls thickness. Values of conductivity ratio over which conjugate effect can be neglected have been obtained

Conjugate Effects on Steady Laminar Natural Convection Heat Transfer in Vertical Eccentric Annuli

Combined conduction-free convection heat transfer in vertical eccentric annuli is numerically investigated using finite-difference technique. Numerical results are presented for a fluid of Prandtl number 0.7 in an annulus of radius ratio 0.5 and dimensionless eccentricity 0.5. The conjugation effect on the induced flow rate and the total heat absorbed in the annulus is presented for the case of one wall being isothermally heated while the other wall is kept at inlet fluid temperature. The conjugate effects are controlled by solid-fluid conductivity ratio, cylinder walls thickness and dimensionless channel height (i.e. Grashof number). Solid-fluid conductivity ratio is varied over a range that covers practical cases with commonly encountered inner and outer walls thickness. Values of conductivity ratio over which conjugate effect can be neglected have been obtained

Entropy generation due to mixed convection between vertical parallel plates under isoflux/isothermal boundary conditions

Paper presented at the 7th International Conference on Heat Transfer, Fluid Mechanics and Thermodynamics, Turkey, 19-21 July, 2010.The optimum values of the modified buoyancy parameter (Gr!R.e)optimum at which the entropy generation assumes its minimum for fully developed mixed convection in vertical channel between parallel plates have been obtained analytically and presented in this article for thermal boundary condition of the 4th kind. This thermal boundary condition is obtained via subjecting one plate to uniform heat flux (isoflux) while keeping the opposite plate isothermal. The effects of other operating parameters on the entropy generation are also discussed.ej201