Numerical investigations of a counter-current moving bed reactor for thermochemical energy storage at high temperatures

Abstract

High temperature storage is a key factor for compensating the fluctuating energy supply of solar thermal power plants, and thus enables renewable base load power. In thermochemical energy storage, the thermal energy is stored as the reaction enthalpy of a chemically reversible gas-solid reaction. Metal oxides are suitable candidates for thermochemical energy storage for solar thermal power plants, due to their high reaction temperatures and use of oxygen as a gaseous reaction partner. However, it is crucial to extract both sensible and thermochemical energy at these elevated temperatures to boost the overall system efficiency. Therefore, this study focuses on the combined extraction of thermochemical and sensible energy from a metal oxide and its effects on thermal power and energy density during discharging. A counter-current moving bed, based on manganese-iron-oxide, was investigated with a transient, one-dimensional model using the finite element method. A nearly isothermal temperature distribution along the bed height was formed, as long as the gas flow did not exceed a tipping point. A maximal energy density of 933 kJ/kg was achieved, when (Mn,Fe)3O4 was oxidized and cooled from 1050 ◦C to 300 ◦C. However, reaction kinetics can limit the thermal power and energy density. To avoid this drawback, a moving bed reactor based on the investigated manganese-iron oxide should combine direct and indirect heat transfer to overcome kinetic limitations.