• Energy Research

AbstractSolar-aided upgrade of the energy content of fossil fuels, such as natural gas, can provide a near-term transition path towards a future solar-fuel economy and reduce carbon dioxide emission from fossil fuel consumption. Both steam and dry reforming a methane-containing fuel stream have been studied with concentrated solar power as the energy input to drive the highly endothermic reactions but the concept has not been demonstrated at a commercial scale. Under a current project with the U.S. Department of Energy, PNNL is developing an integrated solar thermochemical reaction system that combines solar concentrators with micro- and meso-channel reactors and heat exchangers to accomplish more than 20% solar augment of methane higher heating value. The objective of our three-year project is to develop and prepare for commercialization such solar reforming system with a high enough efficiency to serve as the frontend of a conventional natural gas (or biogas) combined cycle power plant, producing power with a levelized cost of electricity less than 6¢/kWh, without subsidies, by the year 2020. In this paper, we present results from the first year of our project that demonstrated a solar-to-chemical energy conversion efficiency as high as 69% with a prototype reaction system.

We report the measurement of the longitudinal diffusion constant in liquid argon with the DarkSide-50 dual-phase time projection chamber. The measurement is performed at drift electric fields of 100 V/cm, 150 V/cm, and 200 V/cm using high statistics $^{39}$Ar decays from atmospheric argon. We derive an expression to describe the pulse shape of the electroluminescence signal (S2) in dual-phase TPCs. The derived S2 pulse shape is fit to events from the uppermost portion of the TPC in order to characterize the radial dependence of the signal. The results are provided as inputs to the measurement of the longitudinal diffusion constant DL, which we find to be (4.12 $\pm$ 0.04) cm$^2$/s for a selection of 140keV electron recoil events in 200V/cm drift field and 2.8kV/cm extraction field. To study the systematics of our measurement we examine datasets of varying event energy, field strength, and detector volume yielding a weighted average value for the diffusion constant of (4.09 $\pm$ 0.09) cm$^2$ /s. The measured longitudinal diffusion constant is observed to have an energy dependence, and within the studied energy range the result is systematically lower than other results in the literature.

AbstractIn this paper, we present the results of a Second Law analysis of a highly efficient, solar thermochemical reaction system for the production of syngas using micro- and meso-channel process technology. The evaluation includes the initial conversion of solar energy/exergy into physical energy/exergy and its subsequent conversion into chemical energy/exergy through the catalytic, endothermic reforming reaction, including quantifications of exergy destruction for components and the overall system. Possible applications include the combustion of the product syngas in a hybrid, solar/natural gas power plant, providing an efficient solar augment to the natural gas fuel; the thermochemical storage of solar energy, as part of an open or closed-cycle storage process; the production of hydrogen for use in fuel cells and for other purposes; and the production of synthetic fuels such as methanol or long-chain hydrocarbons. The analyses show that the overall process is exergetically-efficient and consistent with First Law and economic analyses. Finally, opportunities for improving the exergetic efficiency of the process are identified and discussed

Abstract Attaining high energy efficiency with adsorption heat pumps is challenging due to thermodynamic losses that occur when the sorbent beds are thermally cycled without effective heat recuperation. The multi-bed concept described here enables high efficiency by effectively transferring heat from beds being cooled to beds being heated. A simplified lumped-parameter model and detailed finite element analysis are used to simulate a sorption compressor, which is used to project the overall heat pump coefficient of performance. Results are presented for ammonia refrigerant and a nano-structured monolithic carbon sorbent specifically modified for the application. The effects of bed geometry and number of beds on system performance are explored, and the majority of the performance benefit is obtained with four beds. Results indicate that a COP of 1.24 based on heat input is feasible at AHRI standard test conditions for residential HVAC equipment. When compared on a basis of primary energy input, performance equivalent to SEER 13 or 14 are theoretically attainable with this system.