Technical and economic evaluation of a liquid air energy storage system with air precooling for compressor inlet

Abstract

The intensification of carbon emissions and the energy crisis have made the safe and reliable application of renewable energy in the energy supply system significantly urgent. Liquid air energy storage (LAES) system is an effective means to solve the time and space mismatch between energy supply and demand. The LAES has the advantages of no geographical restrictions, high energy storage density and flexible operation, making it available to integrate with other industrial processes. In traditional LAES, the heat generated in the compression process is used to supplement the heat in the expansion process, and the excess heat is dissipated. In this study, the compressor inlet air is cooled by absorption refrigeration cycle to avoid excess compression heat, which reduces the power consumption of the compressor and improves the efficiency of the system. The sensitivity analysis of the ambient temperature and the compressor stages on the system efficiency is performed. Furthermore, a comparative analysis between the absorption refrigeration cycle driven by the waste heat and the compression refrigeration cycle driven by electricity for air precooling of the compressor inlet was carried out, and the system round-trip efficiency, exergy efficiency and initial investment cost was selected as indicators for system evaluation.