Computational fluid dynamics study of hydrogen production using concentrated solar radiation as a heat source

The purpose of this paper is to study the performance of the steam methane reformer (SMR) using solar energy as a heat source using a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) model. An analysis of the flow and heat transfer performance of scaled-up SMR with solar radiation is conducted using a CFD model. The reactor was operated under the predefined thermal conditions (800–1000 K) and steam to carbon ratio (S/C = 2.0–4.0) in order to investigate the effects of operating parameters on hydrogen production. The results indicated that the mass ratio of feed gas and temperature have a significant effect on methane conversion ratio, total hydrogen yield, and composition of reformate gas. Under the operating conditions of S/C = 4.0, 1000 K, 506.5 kPa, the highest CH4 conversion of methane gas is %99.78. The total hydrogen energy yield is 2.41 at this point. In this study, it is also demonstrated that concentrated solar power facilities can be integrated with SMR reactors to supply the energy required to produce H2.