Development of a hydrogen producing Ceria based demonstration plant coupled to a 200 kWth solar simulator

DLR is building the world’s biggest solar simulator in Jülich, Germany, with a thermal power output of around 200 kW. A hydrogen production unit was chosen to be the very first experiment to be set up. Ceria is a promising redox material for two-step thermochemical water-splitting. The well-known, directly irradiated cavity design, successfully used in other CSP projects DLR contributed to, seems appropriate for a high-temperature ceria based reactor. The required temperature for water-splitting is around 1100 °C, while the regeneration step takes place at 1400 °C. To adapt the cavity design to the new conditions, a thermodynamic analysis of this reactor as well as the necessary reactor design changes were carried out, i.e. the window design and its high temperature sealing. The cavity, designed as a dome composed of ceria-foams, is developed for 1400 °C and will be assembled with high temperature stable ceramic compound stripes. Additionally, a parametric study is carried out, together with the foam manufacturer, to detect the most suitable ceria form for foam shaping