Modeling of Ceria Reduction in a Solar Thermochemical Reactor via DEM Method

Solar thermochemical reactor provides an attractive approach that utilizes the most common solar radiation as the thermal driving force to motivate the reaction between CO2 and metal oxides, which is also called metal oxide redox pair-based thermochemical cycles. The CeO2/CeO2-δ is widely used in the two-step redox process due to its advantages including fast-redox kinetics, high crystallographic stability of a wide range of reacting oxygen non-stoichiometry, and relatively high oxygen solid-state conductivity. In this work, a three-dimensional transient numerical analysis has been completed to study the performance of a CeO2 reduction reaction in a 1/8th segment region of a novel partition cavity-receiver reactor. The porous CeO2 catalyst was analyzed using the discrete element method (DEM) to capture the heat transfer and reactive performances. The catalyst textural properties (particle size and void fraction) and reaction conditions (gas flow rate and radiative power input) were investigated in the CeO2 reduction reaction. The results indicated that increasing the catalyst specific surface area and the temperature are beneficial to the O2 production and further CO2 conversion.

Electric Field Promoted Complete Oxidation of Benzene over PdCexCoy Catalysts at Low Temperature

The application of electric field promotes benzene oxidation significantly over Pd/CoxCey catalysts. For 1% Pd loading catalysts, the complete oxidation of benzene can be realized at 175 °C with an electric field under an input current of 3 mA, 79 °C lower than the temperature demanded for complete benzene conversion without electric field. The introduction of electric field can save Pd loading in the catalysts while maintaining high benzene conversion. The characterization experiments showed that CeO2 reduction was accelerated with electric field and created more active oxygen, promoting the formation of active sites on the catalyst surface. The OH removal ability of PdO was enhanced by forming CoO(OH) species, which can easily dehydroxylate since the reduction of Co3+ was promoted by the electric field. The optimized Ce/Co ratio is a balance between oxygen availability and OH removal ability.

Characterization of Y2O3, CeO2 and Y2O3+CeO2 Doped FGM Tetragonal ZrO2 Ceramics by Spark Plasma Sintering

In this study, 2 mol% Y2O3 (2Y), 1 mol% Y2O3+6 mol% CeO2 (1Y6Ce) and 12 mol% CeO2 (12Ce)-doped tetragonal ZrO2 ceramics were made by spark plasma sintering (SPS) for 2 min at 1450°C under a pressure of 60 MPa. The influence of stabilizers on microstructure, phase and mechanical properties of the ZrO2 ceramics was investigated. After sintering, the 2Y and 1Y6Ce were intact, containing full tetragonal ZrO2 phase on the polished cross-sectioned surface, whereas the 12Ce exhibited macro-cracks, corresponding to a large amount of monoclinic ZrO2 phase. Graded microstructure and mechanical properties were observed in the 1Y6Ce, showing a gradually decreased fracture toughness from sample edge towards centre, together with the slight decreased hardness. The 2Y had a uniform microstructure and mechanical properties. The formation of the graded structure and toughness profile was explained in terms of the gradual CeO2 reduction to Ce2O3 in the Y2O3+CeO2 doped ZrO2 ceramics.