Carbon nanotube microbeads for enhanced gas heating in a fluidized bed solar air collector

A novel approach utilizing vertically-aligned carbon nanotube (VACNT) as solar heat absorbers is proposed for efficient gas heating in a concentrated fluidized bed solar air collector (FBSAC). The VACNT powder was fabricated into CNT beads suitable for fluidized bed applications through macronization and densification. The CNT bead showed an increase in size and a 6.8 times increase in apparent density. The increase in sphericity and a significant decrease in the repose angle indicated improved particle fluidity. The prepared CNT beads demonstrated an absorptivity similar to VACNT, along with increased thermal conductivity and specific heat capacity, indicating superior thermophysical properties compared to conventional CNTs. Moreover, the reduced electrostatic charge generation minimizes the issue of particle attachment on the transmission window. The heat absorption characteristics of air in FBSAC (50 mm i.d. × 150 mm height) with CNT microbeads were determined. The FBSAC achieved a maximum gas temperature of approximately 150 °C. The CNT bead achieved a higher temperature difference of the gas per irradiance and a more comprehensive operating range of gas velocities up to 0.16 m/s than VACNT. The FBSAC with CNT beads exhibited a maximum thermal efficiency of 30.3 % and higher efficiency of 8–21 % than CNT powders at gas velocity of 0.11 m/s. A correlation was proposed to predict the thermal efficiencies of the FBSACs with different particles from dimensionless numbers considering particles dynamics and thermophysical properties.