Experimental study on concentrated light photothermal catalytic glycerol for hydrogen production using a novel linear concentrated light flow reactor

• Published in: Renewable energy Vol. 231; p. 120980
• Main Authors: Wang, Linhao, Lei, Dongqiang, Ren, Puning, Lv, Yue, Luo, Nengchao, Wang, Zhifeng
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.09.2024
• Subjects: Glycerol; Heat collection; Hydrogen production; Linear concentrated light flow reactor; Photothermal catalysis; Glycerol; Heat collection; Linear concentrated light flow reactor; Photothermal catalysis; Hydrogen production
• ISSN: 0960-1481; 1879-0682
• DOI: 10.1016/j.renene.2024.120980

Developing a suitable scale-up photothermal reactor is important for the application of solar photothermal catalytic hydrogen(H2) production from biomass. Herein, Ru nanoparticles loaded on TiO2 were used as photocatalysts to catalyze hydrogen production from glycerol. A novel linear concentrated light flow reactor (LCLFR) was designed and installed. The effects of concentrated light intensity and thermal energy were investigated on the hydrogen production performance of LCLFR. The optical performance of the reactor was evaluated using Monte Carlo ray tracing method and experimentally validated. The spectral absorption and the photothermal conversion properties of Ru/TiO2 photocatalysts in the LCLFR were analyzed with different concentration light intensity. The results showed that both concentrated light and temperature could significantly enhance the hydrogen production performance of glycerol catalyzed by Ru/TiO2. Notably, the promotion of hydrogen production rates by concentrated light becomes stronger at elevated temperatures.