110th Anniversary: Calcium Looping Coupled with Concentrated Solar Power for Carbon Capture and Thermochemical Energy Storage

Abstract

Concentrating solar power (CSP) technologies with energy storage can greatly enhance the dispatchability and the exploitation of solar energy in different applications. In this context, the present study addresses coupling CSP with calcium looping (CaL) along the 2-fold perspective of accomplishing: (a) carbon capture and sequestration or utilization (CCSU); (b) thermochemical energy storage (TCES). The experimental campaign, aimed at assessing limestone performances over extended cycling under realistic operating conditions, was performed in a fluidized bed reactor directly irradiated by a simulator of concentrated solar radiation. Infrared thermography was used to map the fluidized bed surface during “solar-driven” calcination. Experimental results indicated that TCES operating conditions yield a more reactive material due to the development of better microstructural properties, as inferred from N2- and Hg-intrusion porosimetry, which reflect the different thermal history experienced by sorbent material. Working out of process variables in terms of density of energy storage revealed that the CSP-CaL integrated process can represent an attractive alternative option to commercial technologies based on molten salts.

Fluidized Beds for Concentrated Solar Thermal Technologies—A Review

“…The potential of FBs as multiphase chemical reactors is widely recognized in solar-driven solids looping cycles entailing reversible chemical reactions. Hydration/dehydration (Schmidt et al, 2014;Sakellariou et al, 2015;Angerer et al, 2018), calcination/carbonation (André and Abanades, 2017;Tregambi et al, 2019b;Tregambi et al, 2019c;Yan et al, 2020), oxidation/ reduction of metal hydroxides, carbonates and oxides (Block et al, 2014;Haseli et al, 2017;Singh et al, 2017;Wu et al, 2018;Yan et al, 2020) are being considered in solar-assisted chemical processing of solids. These reactions require an intimate gas-solid contact and thorough temperature control, hence FB reactors/receivers are natural candidates for their implementation.…”

“…Calcium carbonation/calcination (CaCO 3 CaO + CO 2 ) is a reversible reaction characterized by fairly large reaction heat (ΔH°≈ 178 kJ mol −1 ) on which conventional CaL for CCSU is based. Coupling CaL with CSP has been considered for both CCSU (Matthews and Lipiński, 2012;Coppola et al, 2013;Reich et al, 2014;Zhang and Liu, 2014;Tregambi et al, 2015;Zhai et al, 2016) and TCES (Edwards and Materić, 2012;Alovisio et al, 2017;Ortiz et al, 2018;Sarrión et al, 2018;Tregambi et al, 2019b;Sánchez Jiménez et al, 2019;Bailera et al, 2020). The conventional CaL concept for CCSU is based on the alternated temperature-swing uptake and release of CO 2 by a calcium-based sorbent (Blamey et al, 2010;Erans et al, 2016).…”

“…In this case, CSP plays the role of energy supplier to the calciner, so that oxy-combustion and the associated complexity of ASU can be avoided. The process may be designed so as to work for 24 h a day, as reported by Tregambi et al (Tregambi et al, 2015;Tregambi et al, 2019b), by proper management of fluxes and inventories of sorbent in either the calcined or the carbonated stage. Seasonal and/ or daily TCES strategies may be implemented (Tregambi et al, 2021).…”

“…When TCES is the primary goal of CSP-CaL integration (Tregambi et al, 2019b), the calcination process can be operated at lower temperature (e.g., 850°C) with respect to the CCSU case, thus limiting sintering of sorbent particles and reducing sorbent deactivation upon cycling. Carbonation is operated using exhaust gas from CO 2 -emitting industrial sectors, e.g.…”

“…under conditions with low CO 2 concentration. Tregambi et al (2019b) report a detailed comparison of the performance of solar-driven CaL in either the CCSU or the TCES variants. Energy storage densities are within 960-1,130 MJ m −3 (TCES) and 780-960 MJ m −3 (CCSU).…”