Session: 07-01: Technoeconomic Analysis of CSP Receivers and Particle Storage Technologies

Paper Number: 131139

131139 - Techno-Economic Feasibility Analysis of Solar Industrial Process Heat Using Particle Thermal Energy Storage 

Abstract: 

U.S. industry sectors used 26.2 quadrillion Btu and accounted for 33% of total energy consumption in 2021 according to the Energy Information Agency. Industrial process heat accounts for 70% of the industry energy use with application temperatures ranging from 60°–1100°C. Industrial processes heavily rely on fossil fuels including cheap coal or natural gas, and differ widely in operating conditions and load requirements which makes them difficult to standardize and imposes challenges in decarbonization. Industrial processes require reliable energy supply and thus storing energy from renewable sources is necessary to improve reliability and to mitigate renewable intermittency when replacing carbon fuel-based heat supplies to achieve energy savings and reduce emissions. To this end, we have developed a particle-based thermal energy storage (TES) technology integrated with renewable energy sources from concentrating solar thermal power (CST) and/or photovoltaic (PV) power.

The particle TES system uses low-cost and highly stable silica sand and can provide industrial process heat (IPH) over a wide range of temperatures. The TES system can serve as a uniform energy supply configuration integrated with renewable power to supply 24/7 heat for industry decarbonization. The TES system charging process considers a combination of CSP, PV, and grid tied energy sources. The charging devices include a solar particle receiver from a heliostat tower field and electric charging particle heaters. Hot particles from charging heat are stored in insulated silos and discharged on demand to generate hot steam or power to supply industrial heat demanded by the manufacturing process. The system and component capacities were simulated based on industrial load conditions and resources availability to design the storage capable of meet the process demand. Capital costs of the basic components were estimated from preliminary designs of component size requirements and used for basic economic analysis.

Economic and performance-based analysis is key to determine the techno-economic potential for renewable energy sources to reliably supply industry process heat and to ultimately displace fossil fuels for decarbonization. To this end, this paper evaluates the techno-economic feasibility of the particle-TES system to supply hot steam for an example industrial application. This paper focuses on the Levelized Cost of Heat (LCOH) and investigated the sensitivity of the LCOH to various economic parameters including the capital costs of the particle-TES system and solar tower system. This paper shows the economic potential of the particle-TES for IPH applications. Various scenarios of combined on-site CST, PV, electric heater, and TES system capacities were considered to determine configurations of the CSP/PV/TES system that could fulfill the heat demand with minor contributions from grid backup. Conditions necessary to approach an LCOH target of $0.02/kWht were evaluated to define possible paths for future technology development.

Presenting Author: Taylor Johnson University of Florida

Presenting Author Biography: Mechanical Engineering undergraduate student interested in solar thermochemical and electrochemical energy conversion

Authors:

Loiy Al-Ghussain Argonne National Laboratory
Taylor Johnson University of Florida
Janna Martinek NREL
Zhiwen Ma NREL