Open AccessInfluence of different adsorbates on the efficiency of thermochemical energy storage
Author(s) -
Kohler Tobias,
Müller Karsten
Publication year - 2017
Publication title -
energy science and engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.638
H-Index - 29
ISSN - 2050-0505
DOI - 10.1002/ese3.148
Subject(s) - desorption , adsorption , activated carbon , energy storage , thermal desorption spectroscopy , carbon fibers , chemistry , methanol , thermodynamics , chemical engineering , analytical chemistry (journal) , materials science , organic chemistry , composite material , power (physics) , physics , composite number , engineering
The main influencing parameter on the efficiency of adsorptive thermochemical energy storage is the efficiency of the desorption process, which is influenced by the process conditions, for example, desorption time and desorption temperature, and the working pair (adsorbent–adsorbate). Due to constrained process requirements, for example, hours of sun shine and low desorption temperatures available from a flat plate solar collector (333–373 K), the only possibility to increase the efficiency is to change the working pair. The reference working pair water–zeolite 13X needs high desorption temperatures of 500 K and high heat inputs per mass adsorbent (1080 kJ kg −1 ) in the desorption process to reach the maximum efficiency of 79 % and maximum energy density of 844 kJ kg −1 . Therefore, the goal is to reach efficiencies in the same range as the maximum efficiency of water–zeolite 13X for desorption temperatures lower than 500 K with the usage of different adsorbates. Four systems of alcohol as adsorbate on activated carbon are compared with the reference working pair. The usage of alcohols on activated carbon allows for highly efficient adsorptive storage even at low desorption temperatures between 360 and 450 K. The maximum efficiency is shifted to higher desorption temperatures with increasing carbon chain length of the alcohol. At low desorption temperatures, the energy density and efficiency of methanol, ethanol, and propanol are higher than the energy density of the reference system. Hence, the alcohol systems on activated carbon are viable alternative approaches for regulating these process parameters.