Title: Exergy analysis of the solar thermochemical cycle for capturing CO2 from air

Authors: Viktoria Nikulshina, Vladimir Nikulshin

Addresses: ETH Zurich, Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, Institute of Energy Technology, Sonneggstr. 3 / ML K 25, ETH-Zentrum, CH-8092 Zurich, Switzerland. ' Nonconventional Power Engineering Department, Odessa National Polytechnic University, Odessa, Ave. Shevchenko 1, 65044, Ukraine

Abstract: This paper presents exergy analysis of the novel solar thermochemical cycle for CO2 capture from ambient air. The exergy balance, the degree of the thermodynamic perfection, the influence coefficient and the exergy efficiency are determined for every element of the system. The proposed system has rather low exergy efficiency of 4.8%, mainly owing to the primary purpose of this system to capture CO2 from air and not to produce energy. On the basis of exergetic analysis, possible ways of improving system performance are identified: increasing solar collector efficiency, pre-heating methane flow before the reforming reaction, recovering heat of the slaking process.

Keywords: solar thermochemical cycle; CO2 capture; carbon capture; thermodynamic analysis; exergy analysis; exergy efficiency; carbon dioxide; greenhouse gasses.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEX.2010.031243

International Journal of Exergy, 2010 Vol.7 No.2, pp.243 - 254

Published online: 26 Jan 2010 *

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