Design Optimization of a Hybrid Steam-PCM Thermal Energy Storage for Industrial Applications

René Hofmann,Stephan Gruber,Gerwin Drexler-Schmid,Sabrina Dusek

doi:10.3390/en12050898

René Hofmann, Stephan Gruber + Show 2 more

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Journal: Energies	Publication Date: Mar 8, 2019
Citations: 14	License type: CC BY 4.0

Affiliation: TU Wien, Austrian Institute of Technology

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The efficiency of industrial processes can be increased by balancing steam production and consumption with a Ruths steam storage system. The capacity of this storage type depends strongly on the volume; therefore, a hybrid storage concept was developed, which combines a Ruths steam storage with phase change material. The high storage capacity of phase change material can be very advantageous, but the low thermal conductivity of this material is a limiting factor. On the contrary, Ruths steam storages have fast reaction times, meaning that the hybrid storage concept should make use of the advantages and compensate for the disadvantages of both storage types. To answer the question on whether this hybrid storage concept is economically feasible, a non-linear design optimization tool for a hybrid storage system is presented. From a preliminary approximation, the results show that the costs of hybrid storage can be reduced, in comparison to a Ruths steam storage with the same storage capacity. Furthermore, a possible hybrid storage design for a real industrial implementation is discussed. Based on further analyses, it was shown that under certain conditions, the retrofitting of a conventional Ruths steam storage to a hybrid storage can be advantageous and cost-effective, compared to an additional Ruths steam storage.

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The transition to a renewable, climate-friendly energy system requires increased flexibility on the supply-and-demand side of industrial processes, while at the same time increasing energy efficiency.An essential contribution to achieving these objectives is the coupling of different sectors to an optimised overall energy supply
This paper presented the design of a hybrid storage system by non-linear optimization for two different cases
The designed hybrid storage system was compared to a Ruths steam storages (RSS) system developed for the same conditions

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The transition to a renewable, climate-friendly energy system requires increased flexibility on the supply-and-demand side of industrial processes, while at the same time increasing energy efficiency.An essential contribution to achieving these objectives is the coupling of different sectors (electricity, gas, heat, etc.) to an optimised overall energy supply. The transition to a renewable, climate-friendly energy system requires increased flexibility on the supply-and-demand side of industrial processes, while at the same time increasing energy efficiency. Various types of energy storage systems can make a significant contribution to solving this problem. To achieve this goal of higher flexibility through the integration of storage facilities into the process, it is necessary to answer the questions about the boundary conditions of the storage facility in the process to be optimized with regard to the charging and discharging duration, the type of energy to be stored (e.g., electrical energy or thermal energy), grid connection, space conditions, and output before choosing the storage facility [2,3]

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