Simulation of Multi-Physicochemical Methane Photocatalytic Process in the SCPP-HPCR Using Lattice Boltzmann Method

  • WU Yongjia ,
  • DU Meilun ,
  • WANG Qinggang ,
  • XIONG Hanbing ,
  • YANG Xinyi ,
  • CHEN Yanhua ,
  • LI Wei ,
  • Renaud de RICHTER ,
  • YUAN Yanping ,
  • MING Tingzhen
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  • 1. School of Civil Engineering and Architecture, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
    2. Sanya Science and Education Innovation Park, Wuhan University of Technology, Sanya 572004, China
    3. CITIC General Institute of Architectural Design and Research CO., Ltd., Wuhan 430014, China
    4. Institute for Materials and Processes, School of Engineering, the University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh EH9 3FB, Scotland, UK
    5. Tour-Solaire.Fr, 8 Impasse des Papillons, F34090 Montpellier, France
    6. School of Mechanical Engineering, Southwest Jiaotong University, Chengdu 610031, China

Online published: 2025-07-04

Supported by

This research was supported by the National Key Research and Development Plan (Grant No. 2019YFE0197500), the European Commission H2020 Marie Curie Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) award (Grant No. 871998) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant Nos. 52278123 and 52208124).

Copyright

Science Press, Institute of Engineering Thermophysics, CAS and Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2025

Abstract

Constructed by a solar chimney power plant (SCPP) and a honeycomb photocatalytic reactor (HPCR), the system can remove non-CO2 greenhouse gases on a large scale. A mesoscopic-scale fluid flow heat transfer model of the photocatalytic reaction region within the SCPP-HPCR system has been established based on the Lattice Boltzmann method (LBM). Multiple distribution functions have been introduced to simulate the distribution of flow, temperature, and concentration of the photocatalytic region. The performance of photocatalytic methane in the SCPP-HPCR system has been analyzed under the influence of different operating and structural parameters. The results show that increasing the inlet methane flow rate can improve the efficiency of photocatalytic and purification rate of CH4, and lead to the increase in carbon dioxide generation rate. When the solar radiation Gr=857 W/m2 and the inlet flow rate Qp=750 mL/min, the photocatalytic efficiency can reach 30.67%. Furthermore, decreasing the aperture size results in enhanced photocatalytic efficiency, purification rate of CH4, and equivalent CO2 reduction rate. When the inlet flow rate Qp=1000 mL/min and the aperture size Dp=0.5 mm, the photocatalytic efficiency can reach 40.23%. Conversely, an increase in the temperature leads to a slight decrease in all evaluated criteria, and the highest photocatalytic efficiency is 24.79% at a temperature of 298 K. These findings provide valuable insights and guidance for subsequent simulation studies on a more microscopic scale.

Cite this article

WU Yongjia , DU Meilun , WANG Qinggang , XIONG Hanbing , YANG Xinyi , CHEN Yanhua , LI Wei , Renaud de RICHTER , YUAN Yanping , MING Tingzhen . Simulation of Multi-Physicochemical Methane Photocatalytic Process in the SCPP-HPCR Using Lattice Boltzmann Method[J]. Journal of Thermal Science, 2025 , 34(4) : 1341 -1357 . DOI: 10.1007/s11630-025-2070-0

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