SUN-to-LIQUID II will revise the basic design of the solar receive-reactor system developed in the preceding project SUN-to-LIQUID extending its capabilities, by integrating a thermal energy storage and further components, to improve the overall performance. The improvements are linked to:
- Heat recuperation: development and implementation of a thermal energy storage system, using an inert heat storage material and a heat transfer fluid to recover sensible heat of the solar receiver-reactor.
- Highly integrated design: the integrated design reduces heat losses and thermal inertia in the system. It will be crucial for recovering sensible heat.
- Advanced flow control: the cyclic process requires a temporal reduction of the total pressure followed by an oxidation at ambient pressure and the intermediate application of a heat transfer fluid to move sensible heat between the receiver-reactor and the thermal energy storage. An advanced flow control strategy will enable the additional functionalities.
- Limiting radiative heat losses: when operated with a thermal energy storage, solar radiation is only used as an energy input for the receiver-reactor during one step of the cycle. During the other steps of the process, the aperture is causing significant radiative heat losses. An aperture cover is considered to minimize such losses.
- Advanced cavity design: 3D printed redox structures with improved properties will be distributed within the cavity to optimize the system performance by taking the actual flux profile of the solar concentrator into account and by tailoring the properties of the redox structures to their location within the cavity.