Patent ID: 11926526
Assignee: ARIZONA BOARD OF REGENTS ON BEHALF OF ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY
Field: Chemical engineering (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC B  C  Y | IPC B  C

Claim 0:
1. A thermochemical reactor, comprising:
a housing comprising a thermal insulation;
a reactor cavity formed within, and surrounded by, the thermal insulation such that there is no aperture through the thermal insulation to allow solar flux into the reactor cavity, the reactor cavity comprising at least one unit cell, each unit cell of the at least one unit cell comprising:
an electric heat source, and
a reactive material;

a feedstock inlet in fluid communication with the reactor cavity and coupled to a feedstock gas source supplying a feedstock gas; and
a product outlet in fluid communication with the reactor cavity;
wherein the thermochemical reactor also comprises a reducing configuration and a splitting configuration,
wherein the reducing configuration comprises the inlet being closed and the electric heat source of each of the at least one unit cell being driven to thermally reduce the reactive material at a first temperature, releasing oxygen from the reactive material into the reactor cavity, and
wherein the splitting configuration comprises the reactive material of each of the at least one unit cell being maintained at a second temperature by the electric heat source, the second temperature lower than the first temperature, the feedstock inlet being open and introducing feedstock gas into the reactor cavity to react with and reoxidize the reactive material, the feedstock gas splitting into a product gas received from the reactor cavity through the product outlet, the product outlet being open.