Efficiency Enhancement of an Ammonia-Based Solar Thermochemical Energy Storage System Implemented with Hydrogen Permeation Membrane

The ammonia-based solar thermochemical energy storage (TCES) is one of the most promising solar TCESs. However, the solar-to-electric efficiency is still not high enough for further commercialization. The efficiency is limited by the high ammonia decomposition reaction temperature, which does not on...

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Autores principales:	Qi Xia, Shuaiming Feng, Mingmin Kong, Chen Chen
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	MDPI AG 2021
Materias:	concentrating solar power thermochemical energy storage thermodynamic analysis ammonia Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/a99917c742b444f4a582e689037474a4
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:a99917c742b444f4a582e689037474a42021-11-25T19:04:19ZEfficiency Enhancement of an Ammonia-Based Solar Thermochemical Energy Storage System Implemented with Hydrogen Permeation Membrane10.3390/su1322127832071-1050https://doaj.org/article/a99917c742b444f4a582e689037474a42021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/22/12783https://doaj.org/toc/2071-1050The ammonia-based solar thermochemical energy storage (TCES) is one of the most promising solar TCESs. However, the solar-to-electric efficiency is still not high enough for further commercialization. The efficiency is limited by the high ammonia decomposition reaction temperature, which does not only increase the exergy loss through the heat recuperation but also causes a large re-radiation loss. Nonetheless, lowering the reaction temperature would impact the conversion and the energy storage capacity. Thanks to the recent development of the membrane technology, the hydrogen permeation membrane has the potential to enhance the conversion of ammonia decomposition under the moderate operating temperature. In this paper, an ammonia-based solar thermochemical energy storage system implemented with hydrogen permeation membrane is proposed for the first time. The system model has been developed using the Aspen Plus software implemented with user-defined Fortran subroutines. The model is validated by comparing model-generated reactor temperatures and conversions profiles with data from references. With the validated model, an exergy analysis is performed to investigate the main exergy losses of the system. Furthermore, the effects of the membrane on system efficiency improvement are studied. The results show that exergy loss in the charging loop is dominant, among which the exergy losses of Heat Exchanger <i>E<sub>h,A</sub></i>, together with that of the re-radiation <i>E<sub>r</sub></i>, play important roles. Compared with the conventional system, i.e., the system without the membrane, the <i>E<sub>h,A</sub></i> and <i>E<sub>r</sub></i> of the proposed system are more than 30% lower because the hydrogen permeation membrane can improve ammonia conversion at a lower endothermic reaction outlet temperature. Consequently, the proposed system, presumably realized by the parabolic trough collector at ~400 °C, has a theoretical solar-to-electric efficiency of <i>η<sub>ste</sub></i>, which is 4.4% higher than the conventional ammonia-based solar thermochemical energy storage system. Last but not least, the efficiency is 3.7% higher than that of a typical parabolic trough solar power plant, which verifies the thermodynamic feasibility of further commercialization.Qi XiaShuaiming FengMingmin KongChen ChenMDPI AGarticleconcentrating solar powerthermochemical energy storagethermodynamic analysisammoniaEnvironmental effects of industries and plantsTD194-195Renewable energy sourcesTJ807-830Environmental sciencesGE1-350ENSustainability, Vol 13, Iss 12783, p 12783 (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	concentrating solar power thermochemical energy storage thermodynamic analysis ammonia Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350
spellingShingle	concentrating solar power thermochemical energy storage thermodynamic analysis ammonia Environmental effects of industries and plants TD194-195 Renewable energy sources TJ807-830 Environmental sciences GE1-350 Qi Xia Shuaiming Feng Mingmin Kong Chen Chen Efficiency Enhancement of an Ammonia-Based Solar Thermochemical Energy Storage System Implemented with Hydrogen Permeation Membrane
description	The ammonia-based solar thermochemical energy storage (TCES) is one of the most promising solar TCESs. However, the solar-to-electric efficiency is still not high enough for further commercialization. The efficiency is limited by the high ammonia decomposition reaction temperature, which does not only increase the exergy loss through the heat recuperation but also causes a large re-radiation loss. Nonetheless, lowering the reaction temperature would impact the conversion and the energy storage capacity. Thanks to the recent development of the membrane technology, the hydrogen permeation membrane has the potential to enhance the conversion of ammonia decomposition under the moderate operating temperature. In this paper, an ammonia-based solar thermochemical energy storage system implemented with hydrogen permeation membrane is proposed for the first time. The system model has been developed using the Aspen Plus software implemented with user-defined Fortran subroutines. The model is validated by comparing model-generated reactor temperatures and conversions profiles with data from references. With the validated model, an exergy analysis is performed to investigate the main exergy losses of the system. Furthermore, the effects of the membrane on system efficiency improvement are studied. The results show that exergy loss in the charging loop is dominant, among which the exergy losses of Heat Exchanger <i>E<sub>h,A</sub></i>, together with that of the re-radiation <i>E<sub>r</sub></i>, play important roles. Compared with the conventional system, i.e., the system without the membrane, the <i>E<sub>h,A</sub></i> and <i>E<sub>r</sub></i> of the proposed system are more than 30% lower because the hydrogen permeation membrane can improve ammonia conversion at a lower endothermic reaction outlet temperature. Consequently, the proposed system, presumably realized by the parabolic trough collector at ~400 °C, has a theoretical solar-to-electric efficiency of <i>η<sub>ste</sub></i>, which is 4.4% higher than the conventional ammonia-based solar thermochemical energy storage system. Last but not least, the efficiency is 3.7% higher than that of a typical parabolic trough solar power plant, which verifies the thermodynamic feasibility of further commercialization.
format	article
author	Qi Xia Shuaiming Feng Mingmin Kong Chen Chen
author_facet	Qi Xia Shuaiming Feng Mingmin Kong Chen Chen
author_sort	Qi Xia
title	Efficiency Enhancement of an Ammonia-Based Solar Thermochemical Energy Storage System Implemented with Hydrogen Permeation Membrane
title_short	Efficiency Enhancement of an Ammonia-Based Solar Thermochemical Energy Storage System Implemented with Hydrogen Permeation Membrane
title_full	Efficiency Enhancement of an Ammonia-Based Solar Thermochemical Energy Storage System Implemented with Hydrogen Permeation Membrane
title_fullStr	Efficiency Enhancement of an Ammonia-Based Solar Thermochemical Energy Storage System Implemented with Hydrogen Permeation Membrane
title_full_unstemmed	Efficiency Enhancement of an Ammonia-Based Solar Thermochemical Energy Storage System Implemented with Hydrogen Permeation Membrane
title_sort	efficiency enhancement of an ammonia-based solar thermochemical energy storage system implemented with hydrogen permeation membrane
publisher	MDPI AG
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/a99917c742b444f4a582e689037474a4
work_keys_str_mv	AT qixia efficiencyenhancementofanammoniabasedsolarthermochemicalenergystoragesystemimplementedwithhydrogenpermeationmembrane AT shuaimingfeng efficiencyenhancementofanammoniabasedsolarthermochemicalenergystoragesystemimplementedwithhydrogenpermeationmembrane AT mingminkong efficiencyenhancementofanammoniabasedsolarthermochemicalenergystoragesystemimplementedwithhydrogenpermeationmembrane AT chenchen efficiencyenhancementofanammoniabasedsolarthermochemicalenergystoragesystemimplementedwithhydrogenpermeationmembrane
_version_	1718410356818182144

Efficiency Enhancement of an Ammonia-Based Solar Thermochemical Energy Storage System Implemented with Hydrogen Permeation Membrane

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