Low-cost crushed-rock heat storage with oil or salt heat transfer

Forsberg, Charles W.

doi:10.1016/j.apenergy.2023.120753

Cited by 9 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 33 publications

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“…CRUSH replaces these expensive components with (1) crushed rock for heat storage, (2) nitrate salt or oil to move heat to and from the crushed rock but not for heat storage and (3) an insulated building. A series of studies [1,[13][14][15] found solutions to the major technical challenges that has raised the Technology Readiness Level to 3. New features relative to other heat-storage systems include:  Minimizing inventory of expensive oil or nitrate salt  A liquid flow system that limits heat and exergy losses to conduction through insulation to the outside environment enabling long-term heat storage  Building structure that replaces expensive tanks  Start-up strategy for nitrate salt system where the salt melting point is significantly above initial rock temperature and  Management of long-term build-up of impurities in the salt or oil.…”

Section: Crushed-rock Ultra-large Stored Heat (Crush) Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Oil and Nitrate-Salt Coolant Trade-Offs With Crushed-Rock Heat Storage and CSP

Forsberg

2024

SolarPACES Conf Proc

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The large-scale use of wind or solar results in collapse of electricity prices at times of large wind or solar production. Addition of heat storage to Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) plants enables (1) storing heat at times of high solar input, excess electricity production and low prices and (2) producing electricity when needed at times of high prices. We are developing a Crushed Rock Ultra-large Stored Heat (CRUSH) system with capital cost goals of $2-4/kWh that enables hourly to multi-week storage with very large CSP systems. Heat is stored in crushed rock piles up to 40 meters high in an insulated building. Hot oil or nitrate salt is sprinkled on the rock, trickles through the rock, heats the rock and the resultant cold fluid is recovered by drain pans. Heat is recovered by sprinkling cold oil or salt on hot rock, trickling through the rock, and heating the fluid with oil or nitrate salt recovered by drain pans. There are different constraints for oil versus salt systems. Given the high-cost of heat-transfer oils, rock sizes and types are chosen to minimize residual oil in the crushed rock. Nitrate salts are less expensive; however, nitrate salts will interact with many rock types placing constraints on acceptable rock types. Rock impurities in the oil or nitrate salt can impose constraints on the CSP system and define fluid-system cleanup requirements.

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Section: Crushed-rock Ultra-large Stored Heat (Crush) Systemmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…While CRUSH is less expensive than gigawatt-hour two-tank nitrate-salt systems, larger systems are required for very low costs because of how different systems scale with size. Our recent journal paper [1] provides a broad description of the system and multiple applications while this paper focuses on integration of CRUSH with CSP.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Oil and Nitrate-Salt Coolant Trade-Offs With Crushed-Rock Heat Storage and CSP

Forsberg

2024

SolarPACES Conf Proc

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“…Scientists have been engaged in different research and development activities to investigate the properties of different types of rocks that can be adopted for industrial process heat storage. Recently, Forsberg 10 explored the technology of using crushed rock as a large‐scale sensible heat storing material, which can be used together with oils or molten salts as heat transfer fluids. The study was motivated by the need to replace nitrate salts with a cost‐effective and harmless material as a heat storage medium for electricity generation in solar thermal and nuclear power plants as well as for supplying industrial process heat.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Thermo‐physical characterisation of natural rocks and impact analysis of variations in their thermo‐physical properties on thermal storage performance

Seyitini,

Belgasim,

Enweremadu

2024

Energy Storage

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In this study, the thermal characterisation of natural rock samples from Zimbabwe for low‐temperature industrial thermal energy storage (TES) applications was carried out. Thermal stability, specific heat capacity, thermal diffusivity, thermal conductivity and density were determined. Variations in these parameters were evaluated and their impact on thermal storage performance was analysed. Basalt and dolerite samples from different locations were found to have average specific heat capacities of 826 and 853 J/kg K, respectively, at room temperature. Insignificant variations were observed with differences of 3.4% for basalt and 1.7% for dolerite samples. Also, negligible differences of 0.3% and 0.7% in densities for rocks of the same type but of different origins were obtained for basalt and dolerite samples, respectively. However, significant variations in thermal diffusivity of all the igneous and metamorphic samples were observed with quartzite rock exhibiting the highest value of 2.1 × 10−6 m2/s, while the values for the other samples range from 0.9 × 10−6 to 1.6 × 10−6 m2/s. This implies that the thermal efficiency of sensible TES systems that use different or the same rock types from different locations can be significantly high to be overlooked. Thermo‐gravimetric analysis results revealed that the rock samples studied have good thermal stability for low‐temperature heat storage applications.

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“…In addition, it allows comparison of laboratory and field test results for the same samples and modeling of the wear phenomenon. Research is also carried out on the crushing technology of road materials themselves, which will also help influence the road renovation process and reduce wear and tear on machinery [ 31 , 32 ]. Studies of machine components working in the soil also include attempts to assess the wear and quality of chisel work [ 33 ] and wear modeling methods [ 34 ] in the soil, which influences the estimation of working time and replacement costs of such components.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Field and Laboratory Wear Tests of Machine Components Used for Renovation of Dirt Roads—A Case Study

Selech,

Majchrzycki,

Ulbrich

2023

Materials

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Renovation of dirt roads requires a reliable and durable work tool. This article includes the methodology of field and bench tests as well as the results of these tests and conclusions for cutters used for dirt road renovation. The main novelty of the research presented in this article was to determine the wear mechanisms occurring during field and laboratory tests, to determine the differences in wear levels and the cost of renovation of one kilometer of dirt road. Calculations of the efficiency of replacing these working elements and the cost of operating various cutters per km are also presented. The lowest mass loss was characterized by milling cutters Ø25 mm mounted on an expansion sleeve and amounted to 130 g. The dominant wear mechanism that was observed after the renovation of dirt roads was micro-scraping and micro-bruising. For this variant, the cost per 1 km of road renovation was also the lowest and amounted to about PLN 2.

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Low-cost crushed-rock heat storage with oil or salt heat transfer

Cited by 9 publications

References 33 publications

Oil and Nitrate-Salt Coolant Trade-Offs With Crushed-Rock Heat Storage and CSP

Oil and Nitrate-Salt Coolant Trade-Offs With Crushed-Rock Heat Storage and CSP

Thermo‐physical characterisation of natural rocks and impact analysis of variations in their thermo‐physical properties on thermal storage performance

Field and Laboratory Wear Tests of Machine Components Used for Renovation of Dirt Roads—A Case Study

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