Table 2.

Comparison among different types of reactors for continuous utilization of thermal energy

Reactors	Solar irradiation types	Thermochemical process	Redox material and its shape	Power	Maximum temperature	Solar conversion efficiency	Reference
Stacked bed-rotary reactor	Directly	Dissociation of ZnO	ZnO particles	∼10 kW	∼2136 K	∼3.1%	Schunk et al.199
Stacked bed-mobile bed	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	ZnO powders	∼10 kW	∼1900 K	/	Koepf et al.200
Moving packed bed	Directly	Dissociation of H2O or CO2	CeO2 particles	/	∼1500°C	∼30%	Ermanoski et al.201
Directly-irradiated reactor	Directly	Dissociation of H2O or CO2	Ceria porous medium	/	∼2203 K	/	Lapp et al.202
CR5 reactor	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	Ferrite fins	∼36 kW	∼2300 K	∼29.9%	Diver et al.203
Solar chemical reactor	Directly	Dissociation of ZnO	ZnO particles	∼10 kW	>2000 K	/	Haueter et al.204
Solar reactor	Directly	Dissociation of ZnO	ZnO particles	∼100 kW	∼1936 K	/	Villasmil et al.205
Rotary cavity-type reactor	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	ZnO powders	∼1.4 kW	∼1600°C	/	Chambon et al.206
Moving-front reactor	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	ZnO and SnO2 powders	∼1 kW	∼1993 K	∼2.9%	Chambon et al.207
Rapid reaction aerosol flow reactor	Indirectly	Dissociation of H2O	ZnO particles	/	∼2123 K	/	Perkins et al.208
Circulating fluidized bed	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	NiFe2O4/m-ZrO2 particles	2.6 kW	∼1200°C	<1%	Gokon et al.209
Rotary-type reactor	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	CeO2 or Ni, Mn-ferrite ceramics	/	∼1623 K	/	Kaneko et al.210