Optimization of the reactor configuration on the performance of the cyclic working mode of thermochemical transformers

Thermochemical processes present a cyclic working mode combining two active phases separated by intermediate phases. A model coupling the solid–gas kinetics and heat and mass transfers in the reactive media was developed to simulate this cyclic working mode. With this model, the optimum values of the working conditions for a fixed reactor configuration had been defined in a previous work. The objective of this paper is to define the best reactor configuration to produce a given cold mean power. Towards this goal, the first stage consists of analyzing the influence of the two parameters characterizing the configuration: the reactor mass and the radius. This sensibility study is then used in a concrete application where a pre-fixed mean power is required.