Fluidization behavior of redox metal oxide and spinel particles to develop high-energy-density thermal energy storage system for concentrated solar power applications

Abstract

Solar thermochemical energy storage systems, utilize the entire spectrum of solar radiation to drive endothermic chemical reactions, have received great interest in concentrated solar power applications during the past years. Storing solar radiation as chemical energy during the day can be utilized at night times and cloudy days. In these solar thermochemical processes, chemically reactive and radiatively participating multiphase flows in various regimes are frequently encountered. Numerical modeling of multiphase flows assists to optimize the processes of solar thermochemical reactors by reducing the time-consuming experimental testing and cost. In this study, an Euler-Euler two phase model has been developed to investigate the fluidization behavior of 2:1 iron-manganese oxide redox and spinel particles for thermochemical and sensible heat storage systems respectively. In order to validate the model, a pseudo 2D experimental set up has been made. Experimental and numerical results have been compared for various conditions. The effect of gas flow rate on the fluidization behavior has been analyzed.