Experimental results of exothermic reaction with concentration gradient catalyst in a solar chemical heat pump

Abstract

A solar chemical heat pump can upgrade low-temperature solar heat of about 80/spl deg/C to about 150-200/spl deg/C by using the reversible chemical reactions of 2-propanol/acetone/hydrogen, which are composed of endothermic and exothermic reactions. In the exothermic process of the above reaction, a temperature peak occurs near the inlet of the reaction zone in the case of uniform catalyst arrangement. Such a temperature distribution is not suitable for heat exchange. Therefore, the authors arranged the concentration of catalyst gradationally so as not to incur the temperature peak. In this paper, experimental results of exothermic reactions with a concentration gradient catalyst in a double tubular exothermic reactor are presented. These results show that the arrangement of concentration gradient catalyst has the possibility of temperature control in the catalytic reactor.