Novel heat transfer fluid for maximum recovery of heat of compression: A steady state analysis on improving the performance of liquid air energy storage

Abstract

BackgroundEnergy storage is a key technology required to manage the limitation of the variability of renewable energy resources. In this study, a concept of energy storage based on Liquid Air Energy Storage (LAES) is presented, with proposed designs to improve the performance based on the heat transfer fluid. The heat generated from the compression of ambient air during the charging stage is usually stored in the heat storage tank and later used for power recovery in the discharging process. The challenge with the LAES is their low round-trip efficiency. Studies have proposed different system configurations and materials for improving the efficiency of the LAES technology, by incorporating multigeneration systems (like organic Rankine cycle, refrigeration system etc.), packed beds for the charging and discharging process, and fluids for cold storage. MethodThis study presents a first-of-its-kind nanofluid analysis for heat recovery in the charging process of ambient air. The effect of hybridization and volume fraction of carbon nanotubes was analysed, in comparison with other oils (Therminol-VP1, Therminol-66, and Dowtherm Q). ResultThe results show that nanofluid@0.005 requires 3331 m3 of storage tank, which caused the least investment cost of the high-temperature storage tank, with $ 2.318 Million. The levelized cost of storage for the LAES systems utilizing nanofluid@0.005, nanofluid@0.001, nanofluid@0.0005, Therminol-VP1, Dowtherm-Q, and Therminol-66 are 208.4 $/MWh, 209.1 $/MWh, 209.7 $/MWh, 211.1 $/MWh, 211.7 $/MWh, and 210.2 $/MWh respectively.