SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR REACTOR AND RECEIVER CONTROL OF FLUX PROFILE

1 . A solar-driven chemical reactor system, comprising:

a solar thermal receiver aligned to absorb concentrated solar energy from one or more solar energy concentrating fields including either 1) an array of heliostats, 2) a solar concentrating dish, or 3) any combination of the two;

a solar driven chemical reactor that has multiple reactor tubes located inside the solar thermal receiver, where an endothermic chemical reaction driven principally by radiant heat occurs in the multiple reactor tubes, where the multiple reactor tubes in this reactor design increase available reactor surface area for radiative exchange to the reactants as well as creates an inter-tube radiation exchange, wherein the endothermic chemical reaction includes one or more of the following: biomass gasification, steam methane reforming, methane cracking, steam ethane or naphtha cracking to produce ethylene and related olefins, metals refining, carbon dioxide splitting, or water splitting to be conducted in this chemical reactor using solar thermal energy coming from the concentrated solar energy; and

one or more apertures in the receiver 1) open to an atmosphere of the Earth or 2) with a transparent window covering the aperture, to pass the concentrated solar energy into the solar thermal receiver to impinge on the multiple reactor tubes and cavity walls of the receiver and transfer energy by absorption, re-radiation, convection, and conduction to the reactants in the chemical reaction to drive the endothermic chemical reaction flowing in the reactor tubes, wherein a design of the multiple reactor tubes and solar thermal receiver are adapted per a solar flux profile to take advantage of variations in concentrations of solar flux in the solar flux profile including adapting two or more of 1) an amount of the at least two or more reactor tubes present in the cavity of the solar thermal receiver, 2) a size diameter of each of the reactor tubes in which a first reactor tube may have a different diameter than a second reactor tube, 3) a geometric arrangement of the multiple reactor tubes relative to each other, 4) a shape of each individual reactor tube may vary with respect to other tubes per the flux profile to take advantage of variations in solar flux in the profile and 5) a size, shape, and orientation of the apertures relative to the concentrated solar energy coming from the solar energy concentrating field.

2 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 1 , wherein the endothermic chemical reaction is at least biomass gasification, and

where materials selected for the inner cavity wall and the reactor tubes combined with an amount of concentrated solar energy from one or more solar energy concentrating fields cause heat transfer from the cavity walls and reactor tubes to transfer heat in a sufficient amount to the particles of biomass flowing in the reactor tubes to achieve the temperature necessary for substantial tar destruction and gasification of greater than 90 percent of the biomass particles into reaction products, including hydrogen and carbon monoxide gas, in a very short residence time between a range of 0.01 and 5 seconds.

3 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 2 , further comprising:

a length and diameter dimensions of a gasification reaction zone of each of the reactor tubes, along with an arrangement and an amount of the tubes are matched to an amount of solar energy from the heliostat field to give the fast residence time of 0.01 second to 5 seconds, with the preferred residence time of 2-3 seconds at the biomass gasification temperatures of greater than 950 degree C.,

where the first of the multiple tubes that has a different diameter than the second of the multiple tubes, has a larger diameter, and is located in a higher solar flux concentration and/or higher temperature zone in the cavity of the receiver than the second tube,

where the geometrical configuration of the multiple reactor tubes in the receiver relative to each other is in a linear pattern, semi circular pattern, arc pattern, cylindrical pattern, rectangular pattern, or some other arbitrary arrangement,

wherein an inner diameter of the reactor tubes is sized to allow a substantially uniform gasification of the biomass particles from the edges to the center of the tube, and have a wall thickness in a range of ⅛″-2″, that is set to withstand at least a 75 psig pressure when the inside tube walls are at 1400° C., and

an on-site chemical synthesis reactor that is geographically located on the same site as the chemical reactor and has an input to receive the gasification products including hydrogen and carbon monoxide for a hydrocarbon synthesis process performed in the on-site chemical synthesis reactor to create hydrocarbon fuels and/or chemicals.

4 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 2 , wherein a shape of each reactor tube is a cylindrical shaped pipe, at least 30 reactor tubes are present in the cavity of the solar thermal receiver, the geometric arrangement of the at least 30 reactor tubes relative to each other is an arc pattern, and a shape of the aperture is approximately a square, and

wherein at least some the products resulting from the chemical reaction in the solar driven chemical reactor are supplied to an input of a downstream chemical synthesis processes, in which methanol is generated and then supplied to a Methanol-to-Gasoline process.

5 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 2 , further comprising:

two or more zones in the receiver in which the reactor tubes in each zone are made out of different materials to adapt to 1) an amount of heat flux in that zone, 2) peak temperature of that zone, and 3) corrosion conditions in that zone,

a tower that supports and elevates the solar thermal receiver and solar driven chemical reactor, wherein the tower is at least tall enough, equal to or greater than 100 meters, in height to give an optimized angle of elevation for the one or more solar energy concentrating fields to supply the concentrated solar energy to the solar thermal receiver and solar driven chemical reactor while minimizing an amount of heliostats or solar concentrating dishes and acreage of land occupied by these heliostats or solar concentrating dishes needed to deliver an amount of concentrated solar energy to the apertures with a flux in the range of 750-3500 kW m −2 , and

wherein the concentration of solar energy into the apertures achieves the heat transfer rates at the inner wall of the cavity and reactor tubes to allow the particles of biomass to achieve the temperatures necessary for substantial tar mitigation to less than 50 mg/m̂3 and to gasification of greater than 90 percent of the biomass particles into reactant products.

6 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 2 , wherein a first solar energy concentrating field is an arrangement of heliostats in rows of differing spacing such that as the distance of each row of heliostats from the receiver is increased, then the height of the heliostats in that row is increased and also the spacing between heliostat rows is increased, and where the non-uniform heliostat field is used to generate an average concentration of solar energy at the aperture of the receiver greater than or equal to 500 times the direct normal insulation concurrently incident upon the solar energy concentrating field.

7 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 6 , wherein the heliostat field has >25,000 m 2 of reflecting surface that cooperates with the solar thermal receiver to control an amount of solar energy into the apertures and onto the reactor tubes and cavity walls thereby maintaining the temperature required for gasification of greater than 90 percent of the biomass particles into the reactant products that include the hydrogen and carbon monoxide gas in a residence time between the range of 0.01 and 5 seconds, and where the size and a shape of each of the one or more apertures of the receiver is determined by the balance between the power in the portion of the focus of the heliostat field accepted into the aperture and the total amount of energy that is needed to achieve the residence times.

8 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 6 , wherein the heliostat field has >100,000 m 2 of reflecting surface that cooperates with the solar thermal receiver to have an ability to control an amount of solar energy flux across the apertures that is applied to reactor tubes and cavity walls to allow enough energy from a radiant energy to raise the heat inside the tubes to initiate and sustain a sufficiently high temperature so that the gasification occurs of greater than 90 percent of the biomass particles into the reactant products that include the hydrogen and carbon monoxide gas in a residence time between the range of 0.01 and 2 seconds, and

wherein the solar energy concentrating field generates an average concentration of solar energy at the aperture of the receiver greater than or equal to 1000 times the direct normal insulation concurrently incident upon the solar energy concentrating field.

9 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 1 , further comprising:

baffles positioned at select locations within the cavity of receiver and combined with an intertube radiation exchange between the multiple reactor tube geometric arrangement relative to each other is used to shape a distribution of incident radiation via reflection or absorption within the receiver cavity,

wherein the concentrated solar energy field is a heliostat field and the concentrated solar energy from the heliostat field is in an amount of concentration of suns sufficient to produce equal to or greater than 750 kW per meters squared of solar energy at the apertures, which gives the receiver cavity to have a capacity of at least 2000 kW, wherein the multiple tube construction of the cavity increases the surface area for radiative transfer to the reactants in the chemical reaction over a common reaction tube, and

a shape of the reactor tubes is substantially rectangular, which also yields a higher surface area for equivalent volume than cylindrical shaped tubes.

10 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 6 , further comprising:

a tower supporting an elevated solar thermal receiver and solar driven chemical reactor, wherein the tower is tall enough, at least 100 meters, in height to give an optimized angle of elevation for the non-uniform heliostat field; and

each heliostat has a mirror, where the array of mirrors in the heliostat field are configured to obtain both 1) dense packing in at least the first third of the part of the field near the receiver, where the highest proportion of energy off of each of the mirrors in the dense packed portion of heliostats intercepts the one or more apertures or windows of the receiver and 2) optimal small shading and minimal blocking occurs for the mirrors in the heliostat field due to 1) the angle of elevation of the heliostat field to the solar thermal receiver on the tower, in combination with 2) the staggered heights and 3) the spacing of the rows of the non-uniform heliostat field.

11 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 2 , further comprising:

a high concentration of solar energy directed from the one or more solar energy concentrating fields to the receiver to give a normal distribution equal to or greater than 3000-5000 kW per meters squared peak solar energy in the flux at the apertures of the receiver cavity, with an average solar energy in the 1000-2500 kW per meters squared range depending on the time of day, in order to have a capacity of at least 2000 kW and generally around 80,000 kW.

12 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 2 , wherein the receiver cavity, the multiple reactor tubes, and the one or more apertures are shaped and sized to facilitate greater than 60% average aperture incident power to be converted into chemical/sensible energy at peak incident power; and thus, greater than 60% the amount of energy entering the receiver as solar energy ends up as chemical or sensible enthalpy leaving the reactor tubes, and also a conversion of carbon in the particles of biomass to CO above 85% yield/ton of the biomass occurs from the gasification reaction in the tubes, and

wherein the receiver has one or more windows covering the apertures and no apertures open to the atmosphere.

13 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 2 , wherein the receiver cavity, the multiple reactor tubes, and the one or more apertures or windows are shaped and sized to map an amount of solar flux distribution to the reactor tube size and geometric position to allow essentially a same rate of biomass gasification for a set biomass particle size range everywhere in a gasification zone in the tubes of the chemical reactor, and thus avoiding locally extremely high temperatures >1500 degrees C. or extremely low temperatures <600 degrees C.

14 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 1 , further comprising:

one or more actuators, wherein the receiver has the one or more apertures and no windows, and wherein the one or more apertures are articulated moveable apertures that are capable of varying location on the solar thermal receiver based on the actuators moving the apertures, and

a computing device running a model of solar energy flux maps of the apertures that captures how the solar power delivered to the aperture changes over time under similar natural solar conditions in order to send control signals to and guide the actuators in moving the apertures.

15 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 1 , further comprising:

one or more structures with high temperature storage material that absorb the concentrated solar energy contained within the cavity of the solar thermal receiver, and

wherein the cavity of the solar thermal receiver contains additional radiant heat masses, which have high temperature storage material that absorb the concentrated solar energy, where the radiant heat masses are used to keep the reactor tubes hot during long periods of off sun, during cyclic up and down times in the plant, as well as keep radiant temperature in the reactor less transient during normal operation, and wherein one or more of these radiant heat masses are positioned in the cavity in areas of extremely high concentrated solar energy compared to other areas within the cavity to absorb some of the concentrated solar energy in that area to allow the reactor tubes to all use the same material.

16 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 2 , wherein the one or more apertures are part of a receiver outer shell that at least partially encloses the multiple reactor tubes, wherein a material making up the receiver inner wall absorbs, or the material highly reflects the concentrated solar energy to cause the radiant heat and then generally radiatively conveys that heat like an oven to the biomass particles in the reactor tubes, and one of a brick, a ceramic, or a fiber insulation covers an outer wall of the receiver, wherein the inner wall operates at high >1200 degrees C. wall temperatures and the insulation thickness is designed so as to limit losses through conductive heat loss to less than 5% of the energy incident at peak solar input on the receiver apertures and a radiation shield that is moveable across the aperture at night or other periods of extended shutdown to minimize an amount of radiation heat loss, which enables a rapid heat up to gasification temperatures when normal operations resume such as in the morning.

17 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 2 , further comprising:

an insulation layer around the cavity of the indirect radiation driven geometry, absorbing cavity, solar thermal receiver, wherein the receiver is configured with only one or more apertures and no windows, and where the multiple reactor tubes are located in the center of the cavity;

a thickness of the insulation layer is set to control conductive heat losses, and where the cavity temperature and an average concentration of solar energy at the one or more apertures control radiative losses;

an aperture design, orientation, and cavity working fluid (buoyancy) are also configured to control convective losses, wherein the inner cavity wall at least partially encloses the multiple reactor tubes to act like an oven, spreading heat flux around via reflection or absorption and re-radiation and giving a much more even flux profile on the reactor tubes, both azimuthally and axially, than the incident solar radiation by itself has, wherein an averaging effect on the heat flux radiated from the absorbing cavity walls and multiple tubes occurs within the cavity; and

wherein the solar energy concentrating field is a heliostat field that focuses an average concentrated solar energy from the moving Sun of a West weighting to an East weighting across the aperture and subsequent impingement on the reactor tubes themselves through the course of each day, and yet the reactor tubes provide a uniform radial reaction profile of the biomass particles through the course of each day due to 1) the oven effect of the cavity along with 2) the particle nature of biomass, which tend to average energy amongst themselves at their design volumetric loadings, combining to give the fairly uniform temperature profile and subsequent fairly uniform radial reaction profile of the biomass particles.

18 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 1 , further comprising:

one or more incident radiation shaping surfaces including baffles at select locations within the cavity of receiver, along with the intertube radiation exchange between the multiple reactor tube geometric arrangement relative to each other is used to shape a distribution of incident radiation via reflection or absorption within the receiver cavity.

19 . The solar-driven chemical reactor system of claim 1 , further comprising:

a secondary concentrator on the solar thermal receiver to boost concentration of the concentrated solar energy, in which a surface geometry of the secondary concentrator and a field layout of the one or more solar energy concentrating fields is designed to avoid reflective and radiative losses from the area surrounding the aperture and the cavity of the solar thermal receiver; and

a tower that supports and elevates the solar thermal receiver and solar driven chemical reactor, wherein the tower is at least 100 meters in height to give an optimized angle of elevation, which allows for a large number of heliostats, including over 50% of the heliostat surface area making up the solar energy concentrating fields, to be visible from the point of view of the secondary concentrator, which increases the concentration of solar energy at the apertures, improves the overall efficiency, and results in a higher plant capital utilization factor, wherein the receiver has the one or more apertures and no windows.

20 . A solar-driven chemical reactor system, comprising:

a solar thermal receiver aligned to absorb concentrated solar energy from one or more solar energy concentrating fields including either 1) an array of heliostats, 2) a solar concentrating dish, or 3) any combination of the two;

a solar driven chemical reactor that has multiple reactor tubes located inside the solar thermal receiver, where an endothermic chemical reaction driven by radiant heat occurs in the multiple reactor tubes using solar thermal energy coming from the concentrated solar energy; and

an aperture open to an atmosphere of the Earth to pass the concentrated solar energy into the solar thermal receiver to impinge on the multiple reactor tubes and cavity walls of the receiver and transfer energy to the reactants of the chemical reaction to drive the endothermic chemical reaction flowing in the reactor tubes, wherein a design of the multiple reactor tubes and solar thermal receiver are adapted per a solar flux profile to take advantage of variations in concentrations of solar flux in the solar flux profile including adapting 1) an amount of reactor tubes present in the cavity, 2) a size of the reactor tubes, 3) a geometric arrangement of the multiple reactor tubes relative to each other, and 4) a size, shape, and orientation of the aperture relative to the concentrated solar energy coming from the array of heliostats.