Sorption-Based Thermal Energy Storage: Material Development and Effects of Operating Conditions

Abstract

The adverse effects of climate change, the steady depletion of fossil fuels, and the industrialization of developing countries have resulted in an increased supply and demand of renewable thermal energy. Renewable thermal energy sources like solar thermal energy produce fewer local emissions but have a temporally inconsistent power output. The consumer space heating and domestic hot water demands also vary as a function of time. This creates a mismatch between thermal energy supply and demand. Energy storage is one method of solving this problem. However, conventional methods, like hot water storage, are voluminous and can only store heat for short periods of time. Therefore, compact long-term energy storage technologies, like sorption-based energy storage systems, require research and development. The current work aims to identify and develop suitable materials for sorption-based energy storage systems and to determine the effects of operating conditions on the performance of thermal energy storage systems.

A material screening study was performed, which identified MCM-41, SAPO-34, and silica gel, which are all silica-based materials, as suitable materials for sorption-based energy storage. The effects of key operating variables for a silica gel/water-vapour adsorption-based energy storage system were quantified and optimized. The optimized system energy storage density value was nearly double that of unoptimized systems. The effects of salt impregnation were investigated by impregnating different hosts with MgSO4 salt and varying the concentration of the salt in the host material. All composites were stable after three hydration/dehydration cycle. A silica gel/MgSO4 hybrid containing 33 wt% MgSO4 was found to have the highest energy storage density of all of the MgSO4-based composites. Finally, CaCl2, a promising hygroscopic for thermal energy storage was stabilized via impregnation into silica gel and encapsulation in methylcellulose. A novel synthesis technique involving the simultaneous impregnation of silica gel with CaCl2 and encapsulation in methylcellulose produced a stable encapsulated salt-in matrix composite with a high energy storage performance.