(Project concluded on November 30, 2020)

This project deals with developing a novel system for natural gas reforming using solar energy as the main energy source. The sun can provide radiation that, once concentrated, can reach high temperatures. Such high temperatures are necessary to trigger some important thermochemical reactions, such as the one to produce syngas, or even hydrogen gas alone. The solar reactor may operate alone or in a hybrid configuration supplying considerable part of the necessary thermal energy for triggering and keeping the chemical reaction. The main goals of this project are: (i) to carry out an up-to-date study on steam reforming processes for natural gas; (ii) to build a solar simulator for laboratory studies of low power in the 10 kW to 20 kW range; (iii) to design and build a black body cavity coupled with a thermo reactor to carry out the steam reforming in natural gas; (iv) to carry out experimental and numerical work of solar simulator and the thermochemical reactions.