Table 3.

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

Reactors	Solar irradiation types	Thermochemical process	Redox material and its shape	Power	Maximum temperature	Solar conversion efficiency	Reference
Packed bed reactor	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	Ni0.5Mn0.5Fe2O4 powder	∼15 kW	∼1373 K	/	Tamaura et al.218
Internally circulating fluidized bed	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	NiFe2O4/m-ZrO2 particles	∼1.2 kW	/	<1%	Gokon et al.219
Internally circulating fluidized bed	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	NiFe2O4/m-ZrO2 particles	∼1 kW	∼1500°C	/	Gokon et al.220
Windowed solar chemical reactor	Directly	/	Coal coke particles	∼0.94 kW	∼850°C	12%	Kodama et al.221
Stacked bed-Fixed bed	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	Ferrite-coated monoliths	∼100 kW	∼1473 K	/	Roeb et al.222
Solar receiver-reactors	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	Iron-oxides coated on ceramic substrate	∼100 kW	1200°C	/	Neises et al.223
Monolithic reactor	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	Ferrites ceramic honeycombs	/	1300°C	/	Agrafiotis et al.224
Monolithic reactor	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	Monolith coated with ZnxFe1-xO	/	/	/	Roeb et al.225
Honeycomb reactor	Directly	Dissociation of CO2	Zirconia and iron oxide ceramic honeycombs	/	1200°C	/	Walker et al.226
Solar cavity reactor	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	/	∼1 MW	1020°C	/	Houaijia et al.227
Foam reactor	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	Fe3O4 or NiFe2O4 reticulated ceramic foam	∼0.7 kW	1773 K	/	Gokon et al.228
Quartz reactor	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	Fe3O4/c-YSZ particles	7 kW	1450°C	/	Gokon et al.100
Foam reactor	Directly	Dissociation of H2O	NiFe2O4/m-ZrO2 or Fe3O4/m-ZrO2 powders	7 kW	1450°C	/	Gokon et al.22