Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage with packed bed thermal energy storage

Abstract

h i g h l i g h t sThe paper presents a thermodynamic analysis of A-CAES using packed bed regenerators. The packed beds are used to store the compression heat. A numerical model is developed, validated and used to simulate system operation. The simulated efficiencies are between 70.5% and 71.1% for continuous operation. Heat build-up in the beds reduces continuous cycle efficiency slightly. a b s t r a c tThe majority of articles on Adiabatic Compressed Air Energy Storage (A-CAES) so far have focussed on the use of indirect-contact heat exchangers and a thermal fluid in which to store the compression heat. While packed beds have been suggested, a detailed analysis of A-CAES with packed beds is lacking in the available literature. This paper presents such an analysis. We develop a numerical model of an A-CAES system with packed beds and validate it against analytical solutions. Our results suggest that an efficiency in excess of 70% should be achievable, which is higher than many of the previous estimates for A-CAES systems using indirect-contact heat exchangers. We carry out an exergy analysis for a single charge-storage-discharge cycle to see where the main losses are likely to transpire and we find that the main losses occur in the compressors and expanders (accounting for nearly 20% of the work input) rather than in the packed beds. The system is then simulated for continuous cycling and it is found that the build-up of leftover heat from previous cycles in the packed beds results in higher steady state temperature profiles of the packed beds. This leads to a small reduction (<0.5%) in efficiency for continuous operation.

Overview of Compressed Air Energy Storage and Technology Development

“…From the study of Liu et al, it is shown that the exhaust temperature is still too high from the AA-CAES low pressure turbine, causing a lot of waste, and an approach was proposed for improvement of exergy efficiency of AA-CEAS systems [33]. As shown in Figure 8, Barbour et al, proposed to use packed bed (PCB) heat exchangers instead of indirect heat exchangers in the AA-CAES system, and the whole cycle thermal efficiency was claimed up to be 70% with the energy stored and utilized by the cascades structure [34]. Sciacovelli et al, designed a dynamic model of the AA-CAES with PCB thermal energy storage, and then studied the transient characteristics of the thermal energy storage stages, caves, compression and expansion stages and integrated system.…”

Current research and development trend of compressed air energy storage

“…The experimental design and numerical simulation were carried out on the six parameters including compressor insulation efficiency, turbo-adiabatic efficiency and combustor efficiency, as shown in Table 3 (Friederike, 2016) The number of tests required to obtain the reliable results was greatly reduced by using this method, and the results had high reliability. Kosi et al (2017), (Barbour, Mignard, Ding, & Li, 2015) developed a numerical model of an A-CAES system with packed beds and it is validated against Table 3. Factor level in orthogonal experiments (Friederike, 2016 analytical solutions.…”

CAES Systems Integrated into a Gas-Steam Combined Plant: Design Point Performance Assessment

“…Quasi-isothermal compression and expansion are accomplished by exchanging heat with the surrounding environment by using heat transfer surfaces or a liquid medium in direct contact with the air. Solutions based on the adoption of liquid pistons appear too slow for industrial uses [7,8]. Concepts based on the addition of a liquid to absorb, store and release the heat to accomplish near isothermal compression and expansion processes are not yet mature for industrial applications [8].…”