Abstract
Thermochemical storage provides a volumetric and cost-efficient means of collecting energy from solar/waste heat in order to utilize it for space heating in another location. Equally important to the storage density, the dynamic thermal response dictates the power available which is critical to meet the varied demands of a practical space heating application. Using a laboratory scale reactor (127 cm3), an experimental study with salt in matrix (SIM) materials found that the reactor power response is primarily governed by the flow rate of moist air through the reactor and that creating salt with a higher salt fraction had minimal impact on the thermal response. The flowrate dictates the power profile of the reactor with an optimum value which balances moisture reactant delivery and reaction rate on the SIM. A mixed particle size produced the highest power (22 W) and peak thermal uplift (32 °C). A narrow particle range reduced the peak power and peak temperature as a result of lower packing densities of the SIM in the reactor. The scaled maximum power density which could be achieved is >150 kW/m3, but achieving this would require optimization of the solid–moist air interactions.
Highlights
Heating constitutes almost 50% of the UK energy consumption [1,2] and accounts for a quarter of all greenhouse production [3]
Continued reductions in CO2 emissions must be addressed through the energy requirement of buildings, the mismatch between summer and winter and day and night availability of solar energy and the demand requirements which are greatest when solar input is low
It could serve to pre-warm air into an air source heat pump
Summary
Heating constitutes almost 50% of the UK energy consumption [1,2] and accounts for a quarter of all greenhouse production [3]. A thermochemical storage unit, utilizing either direct solar thermal energy or excess photovoltaic electrical power as a heat source, would allow the direct heating of the air to a within the building through a conventional air distribution. One attractive material is CaCl2 [10,12,13], which benefits from being low cost, applicable to low temperature thermal charging and readily reacting with moisture in the air to release energy. As a result, it has been widely examined in the literature. In hydrating from the dihydrate state to the hexahydrate state, 1204 kJ/mol are released [12]
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