Numerical Study of High-Temperature Thermochemical Heat Storage Reactor

Abstract

The high-temperature thermochemical heat storage systems offer a promising solution for the integration of intermittent renewable energy sources into industrial heating systems, thereby facilitating reduced emissions. The present research focuses on thermal energy storage of surplus/cheap renewable electricity via a hybrid thermochemical/sensible heat storage utilizing porous media made of refractory redox metal oxides and electrically powered heating elements. A numerical model is developed to design the redox material-based heat storage system. The preliminary results show that the existing design can meet the basic requirements of the storage system. There are still some bottlenecks, such as unreacted reactive material zones, slower heat transfer within the material, that need to be solved through optimizing the reactor design. In future research, the heat transfer structure and geometric parameters will be optimized to improve response time and eliminate unreacted material zones. Furthermore, the operation parameters will also be optimized to adjust the power, temperature, and stability of the discharging process.