Volume 58

Experimental Investigation of Concentrated Solar-driven Methane Dry Reforming over Ni/CeOâ‚‚ Porous Catalyst Shuzhan Ye, Xiangyu Yan, Haoyu Li, Shiying Yang, Fan Jiao, Qibin Liu

Abstract

Solar-driven methane dry reforming represents a promising approach for converting greenhouse gases into syngas using renewable energy, offering both environmental and energy benefits. However, conventional methane dry reforming systems are typically plagued by low solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency and limited syngas yield, primarily due to inefficient heat utilization and poor reactor scalability. In this study, a kilowatt-scale solar-driven methane dry reforming systems incorporating a cavity-type solar reactor and a self-synthesized porous Ni/CeO₂ catalysts was developed. The system was evaluated under varying feeding rates to identify its thermochemical performance. The results demonstrated that the new system achieves a maximum solar-to-fuel conversion efficiency of 33.26%, with CH₄ and CO₂ conversions of 69.36% and 66.50%, respectively, the product generation rate is the L/min level, and can operate continuously for over 8 hours. The work highlights the potential of porous Ni/CeO₂ catalysts in high-flux solar methane dry reforming systems. It presents a scalable and efficient method for solar–natural gas hybrid fuel production, offering valuable insights for industrial solar thermochemical applications.

Keywords Solar fuel, methane dry reforming, solar-to-fuel efficiency, Ni/CeOâ‚‚, thermochemical energy storage