The Calcium-Looping (CaCO3/CaO) process for thermochemical energy storage in Concentrating Solar Power plants
Energy storage based on thermochemical systems is gaining momentum as a potential alternative to molten salts in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants. This work is a detailed review about the promising integration of a CaCO/CaO based system, the so-called Calcium-Looping (CaL) process, in CSP plan...
| Autores: | , , , , |
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| Tipo de recurso: | artículo |
| Estado: | Versión aceptada para publicación |
| Fecha de publicación: | 2019 |
| País: | España |
| Institución: | Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (CSIC) |
| Repositorio: | DIGITAL.CSIC. Repositorio Institucional del CSIC |
| OAI Identifier: | oai:digital.csic.es:10261/200053 |
| Acceso en línea: | http://hdl.handle.net/10261/200053 |
| Access Level: | acceso abierto |
| Palabra clave: | Calcium looping Concentrating solar power Thermochemical energy storage Dispatchability Solar tower Particle receiver Solar calcination CaO deactivation |
| Sumario: | Energy storage based on thermochemical systems is gaining momentum as a potential alternative to molten salts in Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants. This work is a detailed review about the promising integration of a CaCO/CaO based system, the so-called Calcium-Looping (CaL) process, in CSP plants with tower technology. The CaL process relies on low cost, widely available and non-toxic natural materials (such as limestone or dolomite), which are necessary conditions for the commercial expansion of any energy storage technology at large scale. A comprehensive analysis of the advantages and challenges to be faced for the process to reach a commercial scale is carried out. The review includes a deep overview of reaction mechanisms and process integration schemes proposed in the recent literature. Enhancing the multicycle CaO conversion is a major challenge of the CaL process. Many lab-scale analyses carried out show that residual effective CaO conversion is highly dependent on the process conditions and the CaO precursors used, reaching values in a wide range (0.07–0.82). The selection of the optimal operating conditions must be based on materials performance, process integration, technology and economics aspects. Global plant efficiencies over 45% (without considering solar-side losses) show the interest of the technology. Furthermore, the technological maturity and potential of the process is assessed. The direction towards which future works should be headed is discussed. |
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