Solar thermal material processing

The use of fossil fuels for the processing of materials and other fuels is a challenge like no other affecting the world we live in. The creation of solar fuels is a way that could help curb emissions from fossil fuels through the use of concentrated solar power systems, creating clean energy and materials. This document provides a background into concentrated solar power systems as well as solar fuels, and details the design process of this project to create a concentrated solar power system. Simulations and results are presented to explain the design decisions taken in the project. A CSP system is then constructed and tested with the aim of reaching 500°C. This temperature sets a good base temperature for future work on processing solar fuels. In order to reach the desired temperature, different strategies were tested to try and raise the temperature. Due to losses to convection and problems with the tracking system, the desired temperature was not reached. There is however scope to reach 500°C in the future by upgrading parts of the system.