Advancing liquid air energy storage with moving packed bed: Development and analysis from components to system level

Liquid air energy storage (LAES) technology is a promising large-scale energy storage solution due to its high capacity, scalability, and lack of geographical constraints, making it effective for integrating renewable energy sources. The core unit of the LAES system is the cold energy storage (CES) unit, which significantly influences its overall efficiency. However, the current mainstream liquid-phase and solid-phase CES methods have inherent drawbacks, including safety, environmental issues, and the dynamic effect of the thermocline. Moreover, previous research has often over-idealized the CES unit and neglected the actual heat transfer processes during the CES and cold energy release (CER) processes. In the innovative study, a gravity-driven moving packed bed (MPB) based LAES system (MPB-LAES) adopting quartz sand as the CES medium is proposed. A thermodynamic model for the LAES system is constructed, and the gas-solid counterflow coupling heat transfer model for the MPB is developed based on the continuous solid-phase model and finite difference method. The accuracy of the model is validated through experimentation using the constructed test apparatus. The research findings reveal the gas-solid coupling heat transfer characteristics in the low-temperature region of −180 °C to 30 °C, particularly the asymmetry during the CES and CER processes. The cold energy transfer mechanism within the CES unit is also uncovered, and the analysis of exergy destruction within various components is carried on. Through design parameter analysis and optimization of the MPB-LAES system, an impressive round-trip efficiency of 57.0% is achieved. This marks a significant breakthrough as it is the first report that a LAES system based on solid-phase CES has attained a round-trip efficiency (RTE) of over 55.0% while considering the actual heat transfer processes.