Carbon dioxide (CO
2
) sequestration in deep saline aquifers is considered to be one of the most promising solutions to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. As the concentration of dissolved CO
2
increases in unsaturated brine, the density increases and the system may ultimately become unstable, and it may initiate convection. In this article, we study the stability of convection in an anisotropic horizontal porous layer, where the solute is assumed to decay via a first-order chemical reaction. We perform linear and nonlinear stability analyses based on the steady-state concentration field to assess neutral stability curves as a function of the anisotropy ratio, Damköhler number and Rayleigh number. We show that anisotropy in permeability and solutal diffusivity play an important role in convective instability. It is shown that when solutal horizontal diffusivity is larger than the vertical diffusivity, varying the ratio of vertical to horizontal permeabilities does not significantly affect the behaviour of instability. It is also noted that, when horizontal permeability is higher than the vertical permeability, varying the ratio of vertical to horizontal solutal diffusivity does have a substantial effect on the instability of the system when the reaction rate is dominated by the diffusion rate. We used the Chebyshev-tau method coupled with the QZ algorithm to solve the eigenvalue problem obtained from both the linear and nonlinear stability theories.
Thermo-mechanical energy storage can be a cost-effective solution to provide flexibility and balance highly renewable energy systems. Here, we present a concise review of emerging thermo-mechanical energy storage solutions focusing on their commercial development. Under a unified framework, we review technologies that have proven to work conceptually through project demonstration at a scale above 1 MW by describing the current state of commercial development, quantifying techno-economic parameters, outlining the challenges, and assessing each technology’s potential for commercial viability. The levelized cost of storage for thermo-mechanical energy storage at storage duration between 8 h and 1 week is cheaper than that of lithium-ion batteries and hydrogen storage; however, energy storage for such duration does not pay for itself at the current renewable penetration levels. For medium-term energy storage to be viable, at the realistic storage cost of 15 USD/kWh to 40 USD/kWh, the investment cost for power components should decrease to one-fifth of the current costs. Thermo-mechanical energy storage can be economically viable at the current investment costs in off-grid systems only when the marginal cost of alternative fuel exceeds 100 USD/MWh. We identified the cost ratio (charge power cost/discharge power cost) and the discharge efficiency as the critical technology-related performance parameters. Other external factors such as wind and solar fractions, demand, interconnections, sector coupling, and market structure play an important role in determining the economic feasibility of thermo-mechanical energy storage.
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