Techno-Economic Analysis of Candidate Oxide Materials for Thermochemical Storage in Concentrating Solar Power Systems

Abstract

The thermal storage capability is an important asset of state-of-the-art concentrating solar power plants. The use of thermochemical materials, such as redox oxides, for hybrid sensible/thermochemical storage in solar power plants offers the potential for higher specific volume and mass storage capacity and as a consequence reduced levelized cost of electricity making such plants more competitive. For the techno-economic system analysis, three candidate redox materials were analyzed for their cost reduction potential: cobalt-based, manganese–iron–based, and perovskite-based oxide materials. As a reference process the use of inert commercial bauxite particles (sensible-only storage) was considered. A solar thermal power plant with a nominal power of 125 MWe and a storage capacity of 12 h was assumed for the analysis. For each storage material a plant layout was made, taking the specific thermophysical properties of the material into account. Based on this layout a particle break-even cost for the specific material was determined, at which levelized cost of electricity parity is achieved with the reference system. Cost factors mainly influenced by the material selection are storage cost and steam generator cost. The particle transport system cost has only a minor impact. The results show differences in the characteristics of the materials, for example, regarding the impact on storage size and cost and the steam generator cost. Regarding the economic potential of the candidate redox materials, the perovskite-based particles promise to have advantages, as they might be produced from inexpensive raw materials.

Controlling thermal expansion and phase transitions in Ca1−xSrxMnO3−δ by Sr-content

“…in a perovskite crystal structure, commonly known as ''perovskites'' are widely considered not only as thermoelectric generators, 1,2 but recently have emerged as promising candidates for thermochemical redox cycles in the solar sector. [3][4][5][6] Due to their variable nature with an extraordinary large number of possible A-and B-site cation combinations, including multi-cation solid solutions, and the associated tunability of their thermodynamic properties, they can be utilized in a variety of applications ranging from H 2 O-and CO 2 -splitting (WS/CDS), 3,[7][8][9][10][11] thermochemical storage (TCS), [12][13][14][15] chemical looping combustion (CLC), 16,17 chemical looping partial oxidation of methane (CLPOM) 18 and air separation [19][20][21][22][23][24] to thermochemical oxygen pumping. [25][26][27] Perovskites can be partially reduced and oxized, according to eqn (1) and (2), and are therefore also called non-stoichiometric oxides.…”

Renewable Energy for Industry Supply

“…• Thermochemical energy storage is achieved via a reversible chemical reaction, resulting in the highest energy density of all thermal storage options, but with a reaction efficiency that decreases with time. For example, different thermochemically active redox materials can be used for the thermochemical storage of CSP (Buck et al, 2021).…”

Impact of the Sr content on the redox thermodynamics and kinetics of Ca1−xSrxMnO3−δ for tailored properties

“…1 The chemical energy stored during the reduction can be used for a variety of applications ranging from thermochemical oxygen pumping, [2][3][4] air separation (AS), [5][6][7][8][9][10] chemical looping partial oxidation of methane (CLPOM), 11 chemical looping combustion (CLC), 12,13 CO 2 -and H 2 O-splitting (CDS/WS) [14][15][16][17][18][19] and thermochemical heat storage (TCS). [20][21][22][23] CaMnO 3Àd based perovskites are especially considered for oxygen partial pressure adjustment (oxygen pumping, AS), 2,4,24 looping processes (CLPOM, CLC) 12,13 and TCS. 21,22,25 The material-specific redox thermodynamics and kinetics are particularly important for these applications.…”