Abstract
A solar thermo-chemical reactor is modeled and analyzed for the solar thermal dissociation of
zinc oxide into zinc and oxygen involved in the thermo-chemical cycle for hydrogen production. The
reactor consists of a cavity surrounded by a rotating insulation layer made of alumina. The granular zinc
oxide particles are fed into the cavity and are directly exposed to the solar radiation entering the cavity
through a quartz window. A three dimensional numerical model coupling the multiphase particle
dynamics in gravitational field, multiphase heat transfer, k-