Technoeconomic Analysis of a Solar Thermochemical Fuel Production Process Using a Packed-Bed Redox Reactor
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.52825/solarpaces.v3i.2429Keywords:
Solar Fuels, Solar Thermochemical Fuel Production, System ModelingAbstract
The production of synthetic liquid fuels at a competitive price is paramount to deploy them at scale in sectors such as the aviation and maritime industries. Solar thermochemical fuel production is a promising pathway to produce such fuels using concentrated solar thermal (CST) driving high-temperature redox reactions, coupled with a gas-to-liquid process. In this work we present a preliminary technoeconomic analysis of a solar fuels plant, utilizing a new fixed-bed countercurrent redox reactor and combining both CST and photovoltaic arrays to supply the required energy. Three case studies are examined: CST-PV hybrid, CST-PV hybrid with energy conversion between heat and electricity, and CST. All cases include a power block that utilizes the exothermic heat of oxidation. A TEA framework, based on reduced order modelling of the redox reactor, is used to correlate design and operating conditions to syngas production rate. Preliminary analysis shows that commercial viability is unattainable for reduction temperatures up to 1500°C, attributable to the low feedstock conversion. When increasing the reduction temperature to 1600°C, levelized costs of hydrocarbon feedstock below $10/gal are attainable. CST-PV hybrid with energy conversion is identified as the most promising configuration between the three configurations examined in this work. While calculated fuel costs are still much higher than those of fossil-based hydrocarbon fuels, several directions are identified that can improve their commercial viability, namely inclusion of thermal energy storage, increasing the overall plant scale, and further optimization of the CST and PV subsystems.
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Copyright (c) 2025 Alon Lidor, Zachary Hart, Janna Martinek
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Accepted 2025-04-10
Published 2025-11-19
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U.S. Department of Energy
Grant numbers Science Undergraduate Laboratory Internship (SULI) program