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Introduction to Renewable Energy
Published in Sergio C. Capareda, Introduction to Renewable Energy Conversions, 2019
Solar Chemical Conversion (Photosynthesis): Solar chemical conversion is nothing more than the use of solar energy for the direct conversion into chemical energy. Photosynthesis or biomass production would fall under this category. The energy from the sun is used to combine carbon dioxide in the air and water from the soil to generate plant biomass. The classical photosynthesis chemical equation for biomass conversion is illustrated in Equation 1.2: 6CO2+6H2O+SolarEnergy→C6H12O6+6O2
Solar Energy for Biofuel Extraction
Published in Vladimir Strezov, Hossain M. Anawar, Renewable Energy Systems from Biomass, 2018
Haftom Weldekidan, Vladimir Strezov, Graham Town
Solar energy can be stored in chemicals. Hydrogen production driven by solar chemical reaction is one of the ways to store solar energy. Liao and Guo (2015) developed a solar receiver integrated with a dish concentrator for gasification of ethylene glycol, ethanol, glycerine, and glucose in supercritical water. A series of outdoor experiments were conducted at 500°C–600°C (supercritical water state) with solar power input ranging from 3.1 kW to 7.2 kW. At 600°C, H2, CH4, and CO2 generated gases of 41.2%, 15.1%, and 34.7%, respectively. The gasification efficiency was observed to increase from 48.5% to 105.8% following the radiation increase from 3.1 kW to 7.2 kW.
Concentrated solar power
Published in Volker Quaschning, Understanding Renewable Energy Systems, 2016
In addition to producing chemicals at high temperatures, solar thermal can also be used to produce hydrogen. In such processes, electricity is not used for electrolysis. Rather, hydrogen can be produced in chemical processes at high temperatures provided by solar energy. For example, the chemical process can take place within a solar tower’s receiver. Hydrogen is considered an important energy carrier, especially in transport and fuel cells (see Chapter 10). If the vision of a hydrogen economy is to become reality someday, concentrating solar chemical systems could play a major role in the production of climate-friendly hydrogen.
Recent review of using nanofluid based composite PCM for various evacuated tube solar collector types
Published in Australian Journal of Mechanical Engineering, 2022
Noora S. Mahdi, Adel A. Eidan, Hashim H. Abada, Mohamed Al-Fahham
Solar energy is utilised by photovoltaics (PV system), for solar heating and cooling, by solar chemical fuels (sunlight artificial photosynthesis), solar thermal energy systems, etc. The solar photovoltaic PV systems supplied almost around 401,000 MW energy to the world at the end of 2017. In other words, this power capacity represented 2.1% of the worldwide energy consumption (electrical power consumption).In 2017, solar energy was increased and developed faster in the continent of Asia, especially China, where solar energy accounted for more around 51% of the total world solar energy production(International Energy Agency 2018). Also, at the end of 2016, in India, the production of solar energy was around 86,300 MW(Gaëtan et al. 2016). However, the European Union contributed 28%, the north and south of America represented 19%, and the Middle East provided 2% of the total worldwide solar energy production in 2017. In 2018, the continent of Asia produced solar energy around 75%of the total worldwide production and the remaining energy was produced by the rest of the world. Solar energy continued to increase to approximately 635 GW and 760 GW in 2019 and 2020, respectively, as shown in Figure 1(IEA-Pvp 2020)(Africa-EU Renewable Energy Cooperation Programme (RECP) 2017).