Oxide particles as combined heat storage medium and sulphur trioxide decomposition catalysts for solar hydrogen production through sulphur cycles

Abstract Within the general framework of investigating novel routes for solar hydrogen production, the idea of combining a solar centrifugal particle receiver with sulphur thermochemical cycles, involving SO 3 dissociation to SO 2 and O 2 as key step, is pursued. In this perspective, the present work concerns the synthesis, development, evaluation and characterisation of particles suitable to operate as media for direct solar irradiation absorption, transfer and storage as well as catalysts for the SO 3 dissociation reaction. Commercial bauxite-based proppants were modified to incorporate raw materials with elements known for their catalytic activity with respect to the SO 3 dissociation, namely iron, copper, manganese and their combinations. The catalytic activity of such modified proppants was tested in fixed bed reactor test rigs at 850 °C and ambient pressure with concentrated liquid sulphuric acid as feedstock. Extensive screening tests complemented by physicochemical properties measurements before and after catalytic testing, identified systems that at 850 °C, 1 atm and Gas Hourly Space Velocity of 11,800 h −1 could achieve high SO 3 conversions (60%, corresponding to 68% of equilibrium value) for over 125 h of continuous operation. This performance was achieved without degradation of their mechanical strength which, in fact exhibited a slight increase from 53 N in the fresh state to 55 N after long-term exposure to reaction conditions. However such systems were susceptible to colour alteration, affecting adversely their absorptance in the 1000–2500 nm wavelength range. Compositions with the best combination of properties are scheduled for large-scale synthesis and on-site testing in a pilot-scale solar receiver.