A large scale fullerenes synthesis solar reactor modelling and first experimental results

After the promising results obtained with a 2 kW solar furnace for fulleren es and nanotubes synthesis, a large scale production project using the 1 MW Odeillo solar furnace started in 1997. This paper presents the first exper imental results obtained with a concept-validation vessel and the compariso n with a numerical simulation of the target thermal behavior. It is shown t hat a 6 mm i.d. graphite rod heated by a 500 W/cm(2) incident solar flux de nsity (I-s) reaches a front temperature of 2800 K, in agreement with the th ermal model. On this basis, accurate prediction of maximum working temperat ure of the 1 MW reactor is proposed : 3400 K for I-s = 900 W/cm(2).